Behind Closed Hearts
by ayrabelle
Summary: Jackie Andrews' sixth year is off to a wonderful start. She's the captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, Derrick Turpin – the heartthrob captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team – has even asked her out. She knows that this year will be great. What she didn't account for is Trent Black, showing that no one knows what could happen from behind closed hearts.
1. One: Summer Days (Drifting Away)

AN: I wrote this long enough ago that it's not quite up to my current standards, but recently enough that I don't want to go through and rewrite it. Don't judge me too harshly - it's meant as a fun, not to be taken too seriously, teenage romance.

* * *

'How'd you do?'

Jackie couldn't respond because she was busy tearing open the letter that had just arrived in her lap. She barely glanced at the first page before tossing it aside to examine the second.

 **Ordinary Wizarding Level Results**

 _Pass Grades:_ _Outstanding (O);_ _Exceeds Expectations (E);_ _Acceptable (A)  
Fail Grades: __Poor (P);_ _Dreadful (D);_ _Troll (T)_

 **Jaquelyn Rose Andrews has achieved:  
** Arithmancy - O  
Astronomy - E  
Charms - O  
Defense Against the Dark Arts - E  
Divination - A  
Herbology - E  
History of Magic - E  
Potions - O  
Transfiguration - O

Breathing a sigh of relief, Jackie turned to Ari. 'Not bad. How'd you do?'

She smiled. 'Pretty bloody well, if I do say so myself.'

Jackie's mum came over then. 'I think this calls for some celebration,' she smiled, setting down two steaming bowls of chocolate chip porridge in front of the two girls.

'Sweet, thanks, mum!' Jackie grinned as she started shoveling the chocolate-chippy goodness in her mouth.

'Yeah, thanks, Elizabeth.' Even though it had been five years, Ari still didn't call Jackie's mum 'Mum.'

'No problem, honey.' Jackie's mum squeezed Ari's shoulder and returned to the stove.

Once they had eaten their fill, their bowls were never empty for too long, Jackie and Ari gathered their papers to go to their room. As Jackie picked up her envelope, however, a badge fell out of it.

'What?' She just gaped at the badge so Ari snatched her letter, and there was a third page behind her O.W.L. results.

'"Dear Ms Andrews, Congratulations, you have been named Captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team." Wow, Jackie, that's amazing!' Ari exclaimed.

Jackie quickly grabbed the letter back and read through it herself.

 _Dear Ms Andrews,  
Congratulations, you have been named Captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. You will need to organise tryouts and practices. Please see me sometime on the 4th September for any additional information and a list of people wishing to try out.  
Best of luck,_  
 _Professor Flitwick_  
 _Head of Ravenclaw House_

Jackie just sat there for a moment more until Josh, her brother, stumbled down the stairs.

'Good afternoon,' Ari teased him as he sat down and Jackie's mum set a bowl of porridge in front of him.

Josh just nodded absently, obviously still half-asleep, until he realised that he was eating chocolate chip porridge instead of normal.

'What's the occasion?' he asked, suddenly more awake.

'Jackie and Ari got their O.W.L. results today. Now all three of my wonderful kids are N.E.W.T. students.' Jackie's mum beamed proudly.

'Oh, cool.' Josh went back to his porridge.

Ari rolled her eyes. 'You're thrilled, I can tell. So, how about you? You exited to be a big seventh year?'

Josh just shrugged and continued eating.

Jackie gave up on him. 'Come on, Ari let's head upstairs.'

Once in their shared room, Jackie lay down on her bed while Ari jumped on hers.

'We're N.E.W.T. students!' she cheered.

'We're Ravenclaws, it's a minimum requirement of the House,' Jackie laughed.

With an 'Oof,' Ari landed on her back on her bed. 'Oh, I can't wait to go back now. And, ohmygosh, you'll never guess what Danielle told me!' She jumped up and perched on the edge of her bed, leaning her elbows on her knees. 'She said that your brother and Sasha were hanging out a lot more last year. Like, they were almost always seen in the common room together.'

'Really?' Ari had a network of informants that spanned every house. Jackie enjoyed hearing the gossip from Ari before many in the actual house knew.

'Yeah, and Jessica said that Sasha's hoping he'll ask her to the Yule Ball this year.'

Jackie grinned. 'Unless she hints that directly to him, I might need to step in on her behalf.'

'You might have to anyway,' Ari observed. 'You know Hufflepuffs – they're all too polite for their own good.'

Jackie gave an acknowledging shrug and turned back to her letter. Below her O.W.L. results there was another note:

 _N.E.W.T. students generally take four to six classes their sixth and seventh years. You are eligible to take nine. Please circle your choices and send back to Hogwarts before 28 August:  
Arithmancy  
Astronomy  
Charms  
Defense Against the Dark Arts  
Divination  
Herbology  
History of Magic  
Potions  
Transfiguration_

Jackie wanted to be a Healer, so she chose to continue with Arithmancy, Charms, Defense, Herbology, Potions and Transfiguration. Circling her choices, she called Anastasia, her owl, over.

'Did you pick your next classes?' she called over to Ari.

'We can pick our next classes?' Ari looked shocked, and all Jackie could do was laugh at her.

Once Ari managed to decide, mostly by taking her wand and jabbing it at the paper, Jackie sent Anastasia to Hogwarts with their choices.

They sat in their room for the rest of the morning until they heard Jackie's mum calling them.

'I'll go see what's up,' Ari volunteered, hopping up to run downstairs.

Jackie admired her shiny new Captain's badge until Ari burst back in the room. 'Elizabeth says that we're going out for lunch.'

'Where?' Jackie asked, walking over to her wardrobe.

'She said we could pick.'

'Please don't pick Jared's,' Josh casually requested as he walked past the door.

Ari frowned. 'Bloody…' she muttered.

'How about The Snitch?' Jackie offered.

Ari grinned. 'Sounds good to me.'

Twenty minutes later, the four of them, Jackie, Ari, Josh and Jackie's mum, were walking down Second Street in Hogsmeade and to The Snitch. Walking through the front door, Jackie watched Josh's face light up. Each table had a Wizarding Wireless set and he immediately turned theirs on to listen to the Quidditch semi-final matches.

Jackie listened to the matches for a bit as well while Ari and her mum talked. Her team, the Appleby Arrows, had unfortunately been knocked out early, by the Wimbourne Wasps no less. However, Josh's team, Puddlemere United, was still going strong. Both Jackie and Josh made fun of Ari's team, the Chudley Cannons, because they were consistently the worst in the league. Jackie often wondered why Ari even had a team at all, but she assumed that it was something from her parents and didn't pry.

After a little while, Ari leaned over her hot fudge sundae dessert to whisper in Jackie's ear. 'Look, who it is – Mr Surly Black, out to fill his daily quota of sunshine so he doesn't just shrivel up into nothing.'

Jackie turned and saw Trent Black walking in with Alamexia Nott and what seemed to be one of their mothers. Trent and Alamexia were Slytherins in Jackie and Ari's year, and none of them really liked each other very much – they mostly kept away from each other.

'Ooh, but look who's coming in behind him,' Jackie whispered back excitedly, making Ari turn. Derrick Turpin, in his red-haired and green-eyed beauty, walked in, flanked by the other stars of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

Ari gave an appreciative sigh and turned to Jackie. 'Well, now my day's complete.'

Jackie's mum had been listening to their conversation smiling. 'Ah, Derrick Turpin, the teenage heartthrob of Hogwarts.'

'Not for nothing,' Ari defended Derrick, watching him intently. Jackie's mum looked at Jackie. 'We better get going before Ari makes a fool of herself in front of him,' she smiled.

Jackie smiled back and nodded before tearing Ari away from watching Derrick, which turned out to be just as hard of a job as Jackie's mum had tearing Josh away from the wireless.

* * *

The next week their school supply lists came, so the family took a trip to Diagon Alley.

Jackie's mum gave them all money for supplies, plus a little extra for fun, and told them all that she'd be waiting for them at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. Josh saw some friends and immediately took off. Jackie and Ari went to Flourish and Blotts first because they knew that it would get insanely crowded as the day went on.

'Ooh, look!' Jackie dashed over to a display. 'The new _Saltwater_ book is out!'

Ari smiled, but Jackie knew that she didn't really care. They collected their necessary books and put them in their bags, both of which had undetectable extension and lightweight charms placed on them. Next, they went to the Apothecary for Jackie's Potions supplies.

Before they walked in, they saw Jessica and Danielle, two of Ari's friends (otherwise known as: informants) from Hufflepuff.

'Hey, Ari! Hi, Jackie!' They greeted each other and Danielle and Ari sat down on a bench outside to exchange gossip while Jessica and Jackie hunted for supplies and chatted about the new _Saltwater_ book.

After the Apothecary, the group split up. Ari and Danielle went to Madam Malkin's for new robes and Jackie and Jessica went to the Magical Menagerie to get treats for their owls.

As they left, Alamexia Nott walked in. She gave the pair a snarky glare and flounced past them.

'Oh, I'm _terribly_ sorry,' Jessica imitated her, walking like she had springs on her heels and swinging her arms like she was trying to fly. Jackie laughed as Jessica almost ran into Ari and Danielle.

'Jeez, Jess, watch it,' Danielle laughed.

'There you are.' Danielle's mother came up to them. 'It's time to go. Nice to see you, Arianna and Jaquelyn.'

Danielle and Jessica said their good-byes and left, so Jackie and Ari went back to Florean's.

'Hi, Mum!' Jackie skipped up to where her mum was sitting and gave her a hug from behind.

'Hi, girls,' Jackie's mum turned to greet the two. 'Did you get everything you need?'

'Yeah,' Ari affirmed, sitting down. 'Can I get some ice cream?'

'Certainly, Josh hasn't returned yet.' Jackie's mum turned to Jackie. 'Would you like some, honey?'

'Actually, I'm going to head over to Quality Quidditch Supplies for a moment, I'll be back.'

'Okay,' Jackie's mum smiled before turning back to admire Ari's new dress robes.

As Jackie entered the store, however, she almost turned on her heels and walked right back out. Trent Black was in there and Jackie assumed that meant that Alamexia Nott was somewhere inside as well. After a breath, Jackie decided to ignore them. Why should she let them interrupt her day?

She was examining the display of Beater's bats, her own and her fellow Beater's were sadly worn down, when footsteps approached her from behind. Jackie briefly closed her eyes before calmly turning to face Alamexia, who was flanked by Madelyn Parkinson and Violet Zabini. She also saw Trent Black and his cronies one row over.

'Well, well, if it isn't the half-blood blood traitor,' Alamexia sneered at Jackie. 'Where's your adopted blood-traitor sister?'

Jackie didn't respond for a moment. 'Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realise that you were talking to me. I thought you were talking to Violet.' The big scandal the previous year had been when the Zabini's disowned Violet's older sister for dating a Muggle-born.

Violet snarled. 'You just wait till Quidditch starts; we'll see who's so tough then.'

'Right then. Well, I'm captain and you're not, so if you'll excuse me I need to be going now. You kids have fun.' Jackie strode through their human barrier and left the shop.

She was in no mood to go back to her family, so she turned the other way down the street to blow off some steam. She tried not to break anything.

When she reached the end of the street, she realised that she had dropped her wallet in the store. She swore under her breath and started back, but saw that Josh was at Florean's and so she stopped there first.

'Oh, hey, Jackie,' Ari greeted her.

'Hey, Trent Black stopped by – he said that you dropped this.' Josh held up Jackie's wallet. Jackie was momentarily surprised – why would he do something nice like that for her? – but she recovered herself quickly. He probably just didn't want to get in trouble for stealing.

'Oh, thanks.' Jackie sat down. 'What are we doing now?'

'I think we're all ready to go now,' Ari said.

'Wait, I didn't get any ice cream,' Jackie complained.

'We'll get yours to go,' Jackie's mum smiled.

When they got home, Jackie put her new books on her already-overflowing shelf.

'I really don't think you have enough books yet,' Ari commented, indicating Jackie's bookshelf.

'And I don't think you have enough dress robes yet,' Jackie shot back, indicating Ari's over-crowded closet.

Ari smiled as she collapsed on her bed. 'You know, sometimes I wish summer could last forever.'


	2. Two: A Gryffindor Thing

The sun had only just risen on September first and the Andrews household was already in a state of frenzy.

'Mum, I can't find my cauldron.'

'Mum, Jackie and Ari took my Ancient Runes book.'

'We did not! Elizabeth, have you seen my new robes?'

'Alright everyone, listen up,' Jackie's mum, ever the voice of authority, called up the stairs. 'Jackie, your cauldron is down here in the kitchen. Josh, look under your bed. Ari, your robes are down here in the laundry room. Everyone, I washed lots last night, so come look if you are missing anything.'

'Josh, you could just Accio your bloody book – you are seventeen after all.'

'Shut up, Ari.'

Once everyone located their missing items and finished packing, they loaded into the family car and Jackie's mum drove them to King's Cross. They got trolleys for themselves and entered the bustle of Platform Nine and Three Quarters.

'Alright, go find a compartment. I'll wait here,' Jackie's mum smiled.

'C'mon,' Ari grabbed her trolley and led Jackie to the back of the train, where they always sat. Once they dropped off their trunks and Anastasia's cage, they went back to see Jackie's mum.

'Alright, you three.' Jackie's mum smiled at Jackie, Ari and Josh. 'Make me proud. I'll see you at Easter; have fun at the Yule Ball.'

'Bye, mum.' Jackie hugged her mum. The whistle blew as Josh was, as he claimed, 'getting smothered.'

'Have a good time! I love you all!' Jackie's mum waved and Jackie, Ari and Josh leaned out the window and waved back until they turned the corner.

'See ya.' Josh turned and walked to join some of his friends.

'Aha! Look,' Ari whispered triumphantly, pointing to where Josh was walking away. As she looked, Jackie noticed that Josh was walking particularly close to Sasha.

Smiling, Jackie turned away and saw Lucas Wood, a sixth year Gryffindor Beater, walking toward her.

'Hi, you're Jaquelyn Andrews, right?'

Jackie sighed. 'Yeah, I'm Jackie.'

'Oh, sorry. Derrick wants to know if you would like to join us in our compartment.'

'Yes, she does,' Ari answered.

'I do?' Jackie turned to Ari. Ari raised her eyebrows and nodded, Jackie shook her head.

'Could you give us a second, please?' Jackie smiled at Lucas and pulled Ari away.

'Look, just 'cause you have a huge crush on Derrick does not mean that we are going to go sit with him.'

'But, c'mon! You can use your captain status for my advantage.'

Muttering to herself about Captain's badges, Jackie turned back to where Lucas was waiting, only pausing a moment to put a smile on her face. 'Okay, sure, but we'll need to go get our trunks.'

'Okay, no problem.' Lucas followed them and waited outside while Jackie and Ari changed into their robes and shrunk their trunks to fit in their pockets. Jackie let Anastasia out to fly alongside the train and carried the cage.

Lucas led them to the middle of the train and stopped outside two compartments. 'Alright,' he instructed,' you can leave your trunks and everything in there,' he indicated the compartment they were standing next to, 'and come on in.' He disappeared through the door one compartment forward.

Jackie and Ari put their trunks in the room and enlarged them again. Jackie put her badge on and admired it in the reflection from the window. She liked how it looked – the blue and bronze set against the black of her robes.

Ari looked like she was going to jump out of her skin as they walked into Derrick's compartment.

The first thing Jackie realised when she and Ari entered the compartment was that they were the only girls. Ari seemed to notice this as well; she had a smug grin on her face.

'Hi, Jackie. Hello, Arianna. Come on in,' Derrick greeted them with a smile. Lucas had obviously told him about Jackie's preferred name.

'Call me Ari,' Ari smiled, surprising Jackie by sitting between Lucas and his little brother – Oliver, the fourth year Gryffindor Keeper. Derrick smiled at Jackie as she sat down next to him in the only open seat left.

'Congratulations on becoming captain,' Derrick said as everyone fell into their own conversations.

'Thanks.'

'So, welcome to your N.E.W.T. years,' he grinned. 'What classes are you taking?'

As Jackie told him, she heard Ari describing her new dress robes. She could almost see the boys' eyes glazing over.

'…and Transfiguration,' Jackie finished. 'What about you? What N.E.W.T.s are you taking at the end of the year?'

'I'm taking Potions, Muggle Studies, Charms, Defense, and…' he hesitated slightly, 'Divination.'

Jackie couldn't help but laugh. Derrick smiled apologetically. 'Yeah, I know, I don't seem the type. I get that a lot.'

'Sorry,' Jackie apologised, smiling. Derrick grinned back.

The compartment was filled with chatter and laughter as rain lashed at the darkening windows. When the food trolley came by, Derrick bought them all half of everything that was there.

Jackie was in the middle of a game of Exploding Snap against Oliver when Johnathan Spinnet and Nicholas Bell jumped up.

'Look, Slytherins,' they hissed to Derrick.

All of the guys got up and stood out in the hall. Jackie and Ari watched through the windows. Trent Black stood there, flanked by Alamexia Nott. Jackie wondered if they went anywhere without each other.

'Look what we have here, boys,' Derrick sneered.

'What do you want?' Trent sounded annoyed.

'We just wanted to remind you that we run the school, and make sure you know not to mess with any of us this year.' Jeering, the Gryffindors sauntered back in the compartment. One shot a jinx into Trent's face, causing him and Alamexia to go running back to their compartment.

The boys all laughed, and Jackie tried to join in, but she didn't get what was so funny. Sure, Slytherins were bad and all and maybe Trent even deserved it, but why were they all cracking up so hard? It must be a Gryffindor thing.

They chatted away the rest of the ride until the train arrived at Hogsmeade Station. The rain had stopped, so they didn't have to rush off the platform.

'Fancy getting a carriage?' Derrick offered Jackie his arm. Smiling, she took it. They walked up to where the thestrals stood, ready to pull the carriages. Derrick opened the door and helped Jackie up. Giggling, she sat down; however, Derrick was the only other person to climb in.

'Where are Ari and the others?'

Derrick looked out the open door, but before he could do anything, the carriage lurched forward.

'I guess they got their own.' He pulled the door shut to block out the chilly wind that had picked up.

'What's it like, being a Seeker?' Jackie asked. Being a Beater herself, she had always wondered what other positions were like.

Derrick's face lit up. 'Oh, it's amazing. Soaring high above the pitch, dodging around other players, all the time looking for this little gold ball, it's exhilarating. What about you?' he inquired. 'How'd you end up a Beater?'

Jackie grimaced. 'It was the position my brother and his friends always made me play when I was little – it was the one they didn't like – so I got good, since they played pretty much every day. Then, second year during tryouts, the returning Beater took us aside to work and I hit the captain in the face from across the pitch, so I didn't think I would make it. But, after he got back from the Hospital Wing, he told me I was on the starting crew.'

Derrick laughed as they approached the castle. He got out first and offered Jackie a hand. They entered the Great Hall together and paused a moment.

'Well, I'll be seeing you around,' Jackie smiled.

Derrick gave her a one-armed hug. 'See you later.'

They split and walked to their respective tables. Jackie found Ari and sat next to her.

'What was that about?' she asked, sitting down. 'I thought you were the one with the crush.'

Ari grinned. 'He asked for you specifically, so I figured you should sit next to him. Plus, if it doesn't work out between you two,' her grin turned into a smirk, 'I'll be there for him.'

Jackie shook her head, but before she could continue, the doors opened and Professor McGonagall entered, leading the first years.

'Blimey, they're getting smaller,' David, one of Jackie and Ari's friends, observed in a whisper. Ari giggled, trying and failing to turn it into a cough.

Jackie smiled and glanced over at the Gryffindor table. Derrick and his friends were doodling on a spare piece of parchment. He looked up and caught her eye, giving her a grin and wink. She grinned in return before turning back to watch the Sorting. The hat was about to start its song.

' _A thousand years or more ago  
When Hogwarts was begun,  
Our founders created Houses  
In the school itself as one.  
Said Ravenclaw: 'I'll teach those  
Whose wit and smarts come in a flood.'  
Said Slytherin: 'I'll teach just those  
Who are of noble and pure blood.'  
Said Gryffindor: 'I'll teach those  
Whose bravery shines through.'  
Said Hufflepuff: 'I'll teach them all  
What I know is true.'  
The four founders ruled over the school  
For many years to come,  
Until those friends became rivals  
And almost ruined what they'd done.  
For they were all the best of friends  
But those friendships fell apart.  
Slytherin left and ran away  
From the school he helped to start.  
The moral of the story or  
The lesson of my song  
Is: Make new friends, but don't forget  
Your enemy's growing strong.  
So come on up, slip me on  
Snug about your ears.  
I'll figure out where you belong  
For all your Hogwarts years.'_

Jackie and Ari clapped with the rest of the school and cheered when the hat shouted 'Ravenclaw!' but otherwise chatted, in whispers, amongst their friends until Professor Dumbledore stood up. The Hall went silent immediately.

Professor Dumbledore beamed at them all. 'There is a time for speeches, but that time is not now. Tuck in!'

'Hear, hear,' everyone cheered as the golden plates filled with food.

'So, Miss Arianna,' Jackie filled her plate and turned to Ari. 'Where were you on the platform?'

Ari's brow furrowed as she began eating. 'I don't know. I was following you, but then you disappeared. I didn't see where you went, but then I saw Lucas and his friends so I went with them.'

They all talked their way through dinner and dessert until the feast disappeared and Professor Dumbledore stood up once more.

'Welcome to another year at Hogwarts!' he beamed. 'Mr Filch, our caretaker, would like me to remind you all that the list of banned items, which is now at two hundred and forty-seven, I believe, is up on the door of his office for your perusal. I would also like to tell the first years, as well as remind some of you older students, that the Forbidden Forest is off limits to all students unaccompanied by a staff member.' His eyes paused a moment on a pair of redheaded twins sitting at the Gryffindor table. 'Magic is not permitted in the corridors.' Here his eyes twinkled, like he knew how few students paid attention to that rule. 'Anyone interested in trying out for their house Quidditch teams should see their Head of House within the next two days. Now your warm, comfortable beds await you. Good night!'

Deafening scraping sounds punctuated the end of his speech as everyone pushed back from their tables. David and Alex, the two Ravenclaw prefects and a couple that had been dating for three years now, began calling for the first years to follow them. Jackie and Ari rushed ahead so as not to get caught in the crowds.

They made it to the door of Ravenclaw Tower and Ari knocked. The knocker changed into the head of an eagle and asked, 'Which came first, the phoenix or the flame?'

'The phoenix,' Jackie answered immediately.

'The flame,' Ari argued.

'A circle has no beginning,' a voice came from behind.

'Well-reasoned,' the knocker responded and the door opened.

'You're both welcome,' Hannah laughed, walking in with them.

'We would have gotten there eventually,' Ari laughed along.

'Before or after the weekend?' Hannah grinned as they walked through the familiar circular common room and up the stairs to their dorms.

They all found their beds and went about getting ready. Anastasia sat on her cage, waiting for Jackie. Once Jackie stroked her head for a moment, Anastasia gave a happy hoot and flew to the owlry.

Jackie pulled on her pyjamas and snuggled under her covers, pulling the bed curtains shut.

'Night, ladies,' she heard Hannah say as the door opened to let their other two dorm mates in.

'Night, all.' Jackie was asleep soon after.


	3. Three: Gossip Already?

Jackie was the first one awake in her room the next morning. She changed into her running clothes and went to take her daily run around the lake.

She was normally the only one out there running, but today she saw someone else outside as well. As she got closer, she saw that it was Stephen Flint, a Chaser for Slytherin and one of Trent Black's friends that had been in Quality Quidditch Supplies. He gave her a nod and she nodded back, but they ran at different paces so that was the extent of their conversation. He left before she finished as he had started earlier, so Jackie finished her three laps alone, like usual, before heading back to the castle to take a shower before breakfast.

When she got to her room, Rebecca was the only one left.

'Hey, Jackie,' she smiled as Jackie walked into the room. 'How was your summer?'

'Hi, Rebecca,' Jackie smiled back. 'It was pretty nice. How was yours?'

'Relaxing,' Rebecca replied with a smile.

'That's always an excellent thing,' Jackie observed, heading for the shower.

'You've got thirty minutes left till breakfast,' Rebecca called as she left.

'Thanks.'

After her shower, Jackie ran into Nathaniel Quirke in the common room. The two had been best friends since their first year.

'Watch where you're going, Quirke,' Jackie laughed.

'You watch where you're going, Andrews,' he laughed along.

Professor Flitwick walked along the Ravenclaw table that morning handing out schedules. Ari had already received hers as Jackie and Nathaniel sat down.

'Ah, Ms Andrews, here is your schedule. I am rather proud of your Charms O.W.L., keep up the good work.'

'Thank you, Professor.' Jackie fought to keep a straight face as Nathaniel pulled faces at her from behind Flitwick's back.

As Professor Flitwick turned to Nathaniel, Nathaniel pulled one of those moves that made him look ridiculous as he tried to hide the fact that that he was making a face. Jackie snorted into her porridge bowl.

'And here is your schedule, Mr Quirke. I was pleased with your Charms mark as well. I'll see you both later this morning.' And with that he moved along to a group of first years.

'What do you have?' Nathaniel asked, looking at Jackie's schedule. They all, Ari included, compared schedules and found that they had every class but Nathaniel's Ancient Runes, Ari's Care of Magical Creatures and Jackie's Arithmancy together. The early bell rang and everyone filed out of the Great Hall to go to the first class of the term.

As Jackie, Ari and Nathaniel entered the Charms classroom, they saw that they would be having class with Lucas Wood and Nicholas Bell of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

They all sat through Professor Flitwick's speech – which lasted through ninety-five of the one hundred minutes – half asleep. Jackie was grateful that they wouldn't have any homework that night on what he had said.

Jackie and Nathaniel said good bye to Ari in the Entrance Hall and Nathaniel proceeded to complain the entire way to the dungeon for Potions. Snape had never really liked them very much and Nathaniel wished that Potions wasn't required for Auror training.

As they entered the dungeon, they immediately sat down at a table together. Some Gryffindors came in and sat at their own table, and then Trent Black walked in with Stephen Flint. A few Hufflepuffs, including Jessica, barely made it through the doors in time for the bell to ring. Jackie and Nathaniel were left with a table to themselves as Professor Snape walked to the front of the room.

'Welcome to N.E.W.T. Potions, the hardest class you'll take,' he greeted them all. 'Please take out your cauldrons; we will be making Veritaserum for the first month.' He tapped the board with his wand and the instructions appeared. Another wave opened the supply closet and everyone started.

Nathaniel set up things at their table, complaining that they had such a hard task to start off with, so Jackie grabbed her _Advanced Potion Making_ and went to gather supplies. Inside the closet, Jackie grabbed everything they would need and almost ran over Trent Black on her way out.

'My apologies.' He stepped to the side to let her pass, gesturing for her to go before him.

'Sorry,' Jackie apologised back to him, smiling slightly as she walked past. She wondered why he was talking to her, they had never associated with each other before, and Jackie was fairly certain that he hated her. After all, she was a lowly half-blood, and a blood traitor to boot.

Jackie and Nathaniel were the first to make it to where their potions had to simmer for three hours, so they were permitted to leave early. As they left, they heard Snape telling the Gryffindors that they wouldn't be able to leave the room until they made it that far, even if it took them until dinner. As much as Snape didn't like Jackie or Nathaniel, he pretty much loathed all Gryffindors.

Jackie and Nathaniel met up with Ari at the table for lunch.

'How was your free period?' Jackie asked as Ari sat down.

Ari gave a happy sigh. 'It was amazing. I got a wonderful nap.'

Nathaniel muttered darkly to himself, something about Potions and Snape, as he ate his lunch.

During break, Jackie and Ari returned to Ravenclaw Tower while Nathaniel went outside for a walk.

Ari remained in their dorm as Jackie grabbed her new book and settled down in her favourite armchair in the common room to read. Fifteen minutes later, Ari reappeared as Alex entered the room. They immediately sat together and shared the latest gossip as Jackie laughed to herself. It had only been three periods and they already needed to catch up.

Jackie read through most of the break before she had to return to Potions. When she walked in the dungeon, she found that her potion still had ten minutes left to simmer. Nathaniel walked in right after her.

'Hey,' she grinned.

'Hey,' he smiled back. 'How was your break?'

'Pretty good, I read a new book,' she replied as they sat down.

'How far did you get?'

'About a hundred and fifty pages.'

'Oh, so you're almost done already. You should slow down a bit before you finish it in one –'

'There are over a thousand pages total,' Jackie cut him off with a smirk.

His eyes widened. 'Oh…' He looked down at his potion and Jackie laughed at his expression.

They finished their work early again, so Snape, grudgingly, let them go early again. As they packed up, one of the Gryffindor guys walked past their table.

'Derrick asked me to give this to you,' he whispered, dropping the note onto their table subtly so Snape wouldn't notice. Jackie nodded and stuffed it in her bag. As she and Nathaniel walked out, Nathaniel gave her a curious look. She ignored him for the moment and opened her note.

 _Jackie,_

 _How about meeting me after dinner tonight for a walk around the grounds?_

 _-Derrick_

Jackie grabbed her quill and scribbled a 'yes' on the back before giving it to the Gryffindor guy, who was walking past.

'Could you give this to Derrick, please?' she smiled sweetly.

They guy started slightly, but recovered himself quickly and nodded. Nathaniel smirked as they walked toward the greenhouses for Herbology.

'What?' Jackie asked when she noticed.

'Oh, nothing,' he replied innocently. Jackie decided against pressing the issue as Ari caught up to them.

'Hey, guys,' Ari chirped.

'Hey, Ari,' Nathaniel greeted her. As David approached, Nathaniel branched off to talk with him.

'Ohmygosh, guess what I heard!' Ari addressed Jackie once they were alone.

'What?'

'Derrick Turpin was seen writing a note to someone during break.' Ari gave Jackie a pointed look and Jackie knew that Ari expected the note to be to her.

'Yeah, I got that. We're going for a walk after dinner tonight.'

Ari's eyes widened. 'Really? That's so exciting!'

Jackie laughed. They were unable to continue their conversation as class started. Professor Sprout began class much the same way as Professor Flitwick – taking about being a N.E.W.T. student and what that meant. Jackie noticed Ari bubbling with excitement at what Jackie had told her and not paying attention to Professor Sprout. She also saw Nathaniel and David's eyes glazing over.

Once Professor Sprout finished, there were only five minutes left of class. She assigned them a three-foot essay on the properties of mandrake roots and let them go early.

'I could get used to this,' Nathaniel grinned as they left class early for the third time that day.

'I'll catch up with you later.' Ari gave Jackie a meaningful look as she walked toward the Care of Magical Creatures area just outside of the forest.

'I'll catch ya later too,' Nathaniel winked as he turned to head to the Ancient Runes class. Jackie waved as she continued to Ravenclaw Tower.

It was an easier riddle this time, so Jackie got in quickly. The circular room was filled with the sunset light streaming in from the large windows. Students were getting started on their homework or gathering their things to go to the last class of the day. Jackie walked through the door and up the stairs to her dorm. There wasn't anyone else inside, so she opened the windows to let the cool air in. Jackie had the bed with the western-facing window, so she got an excellent view of the beginnings of the sunset. She set her bag down on the side of her bed to continue reading. Halfway through her free period, she realised that she should probably get started on her Herbology homework for the next day.

The final bell rang and Jackie had surpassed the three foot mark, but she hadn't finished yet. Ari came into the room and exclaimed about how cold it was. Jackie hadn't even noticed, but she let Ari shut the windows. With two sentences left, Ari stopped pacing and sat down on Jackie's bed. Jackie was surprised that she had been able to wait as long as she had. As Jackie rolled up her parchment, Ari looked liable to explode.

'It's only the first day and there's gossip?' Jackie raised an eyebrow.

'You're part of it!' Ari burst. 'You've got a hot date tonight with Derrick Turpin. Derrick Turpin! Do you realise how exciting this is?'

'Firstly,' Jackie held up a finger, 'it is _not_ a 'hot date.' We're merely taking a walk. Secondly,' she broke into a wide smile, 'of course I realise how exciting this is.'

After dinner, Jackie walked out through the front doors as Ari and Nathaniel turned up the stairs to go to Ravenclaw Tower. The air was cool and there were a few other students out enjoying the sunset.

Jackie didn't have to wait long. Five minutes after Jackie walked out, Derrick appeared.

'Hey,' he smiled as he approached.

'Hi,' she smiled back.

'Shall we?' He bowed and gestured for her to start walking around the lake. She laughed and curtsied slightly before starting off. He followed and they soon fell into pace with each other.

'How was your first day?' he asked.

'It was pretty nice. Not too much homework yet. How was yours?'

He grimaced. 'Ugh, I got homework from every class. Seventh year seems to be "pile it all up" year from the way the teachers were all talking.

Jackie made a sympathetic face. 'I'm sorry. At least you'll have Quidditch to help get your mind off it all.'

His face lit up. 'Yeah, Quidditch. I can't wait to get started this year. Are you excited to be captain?'

Jackie could feel her face light up as well. 'I'm very excited. I have no idea what the bloody hell I'm going to do, but hopefully I'll still make a good captain.'

'I'm sure you will,' Derrick smiled at her.

They chatted for a while longer before Derrick said that he should get to work and so they walked back inside. In the Entrance Hall, they paused at the top of the marble staircase.

'So, I'll see you around.' Jackie made to turn, but Derrick caught her arm and pulled her into a hug.

'Night,' he called as she turned away. She smiled and waved back.

As she disappeared from view, Jackie pondered her evening for a moment. It had been a nice walk, and their conversation hadn't felt forced. She was glad that it had gone well - her only previous attempt at a first date had been disastrous.

Walking up the stairs to Ravenclaw Tower, Jackie thought about what she was going to tell Ari. Ari would want to hear that they talked about love and their feelings toward each other (which they didn't) and that they kissed at the end (which Jackie was glad they didn't). Ari wasn't hovering in the common room, so Jackie stalled to continue deciding what to say.

Her peace didn't last long. After five minutes, Ari appeared in front of her. 'Come on.' She grabbed Jackie's arm and practically dragged her up the stairs.

Once they were in their dorm, Ari sat at the foot of Jackie's bed. 'Well? How was it?'

Jackie grinned. 'It was nice. We walked around outside and talked.'

'What did you talk about?'

'Quidditch and classes.' Jackie grinned as Ari's face betrayed her disappointment.

'How did you say good-bye?'

'We hugged.' Ari frowned and Jackie laughed.

'Well, it was only your first date. You have time,' Ari resigned as she went to her own bed.

'Night, Ari.'

'Night, Jackie.'

Jackie changed into her pyjamas and pulled out her Walkman, which she had charmed to run on magical energy so it wouldn't go haywire in the school. She turned it on and read until she fell asleep.


	4. Four: Vampires and Biscuits

The next day was dark and down-pouring when Jackie woke up. She charmed her clothes and shoes to be impermeable and went out for her run. Stephen Flint was walking up from the dungeons at the same time as Jackie came down the stairs.

'Hey,' he greeted her.

'Hi,' she smiled back. They walked out the front door and Stephen was drenched in seconds.

'How are you staying dry?' he asked her, looking incredulous.

'Impermeable charms are a wonderful thing,' Jackie grinned as she took out her wand. ' _Impervius_.' She pointed her wand at his shirt, shorts and shoes in quick succession.

'Cool, thanks. I'm Stephen Flint, by the way.'

'No problem. I'm Jackie Andrews.' They shook hands and began their run. Today, Jackie tried to keep pace with him for as long as possible. She made it two and a half laps before she had to return to her normal pace. He waited for her at their starting point.

'You really had me going there,' he commented, breathing hard as they walked to the castle.

'Wait, you were trying to keep up with me?' Jackie was surprised. 'I was trying to keep up with you!'

Stephen laughed. 'I guess that's why we were going so fast.' Jackie laughed too.

'See you tomorrow,' he smiled and turned as they entered the Entrance Hall.

'Bye,' Jackie smiled and waved back.

As she walked up the stairs, Ari came up from behind her.

'Hold up there, you.' She grabbed Jackie's arm and fell into step beside her. 'You're friends with a Slytherin?'

'Er, maybe?'

'When did this happen?'

Jackie rolled her eyes. 'We were just running together.'

'Oh, okay. I guess that's acceptable then.' Ari nodded and let go of Jackie's arm.

Jackie laughed. 'When wouldn't it be acceptable?'

'If you were friends, and you had been friends for a while now, and you never told me, obviously,' Ari scoffed.

They had made it to the base of the winding staircase before Ari remembered that she had originally been heading down for breakfast. Jackie laughed and continued up the stairs for her shower. She had been surprised at well at how well she and Stephen had gotten along. She guessed he wasn't a normal Slytherin, and she'd just see how it worked out.

When Jackie got out of the shower, she only had five minutes left for breakfast. Opting to eat one of the snacks from her trunk instead, Jackie went back to her bed to relax for her free period. When she walked into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, Ari grabbed Jackie's arm and dragged her to a table on the side where Nathaniel and David were waiting.

'Ohmygosh, you'll never guess who the Defense professor is this year!'

'Professor White?'

Ari's eyes widened. 'How did you know?'

Jackie smirked. 'Ari, that's what it says on our schedules.'

'Oh, right…'

'Andrew White,' Nathaniel intervened. 'He's rumoured to be the next choice for Head Auror.'

'I heard that he was going to run for Minister next year,' David interjected. Before they could continue exchanging theories, the bell rang and Professor White himself swept into the room. All chatter immediately ceased.

'Good morning, class,' he smiled in greeting. 'If you'll all take out your books, we'll do a quick bit of reading.'

They read the section on vampires by themselves. Jackie was the first one done, and as she looked up, Professor White caught her eye. He gave her a smile and nodded before looking back down at his desk. Once they had all finished, Professor White led them in an animated debate about the Ministry's laws regarding vampires. Jackie and Nathaniel were on the side against the laws. They argued through the double period, and when the bell rang, people were stunned. How had time gone by so quickly? Professor White assigned them all to write down any more arguments to be used when they continued on Monday.

Many students, however, couldn't wait that long. As they left the class, Jackie could her people arguing. She and Nathaniel were arguing with David and Ari, both of whom had been pro-laws.

'They're monsters!' Ari was saying. 'They should be contained.'

'They can't help what they are,' Nathaniel countered. 'They're either born into it or created – maybe they're not the monsters you think they are. How many vampires have you known?'

The argument lasted through lunch and half of break.

'How would you like to live next to one?' David asked. 'You'd constantly be in fear of exiting your house.'

'But,' Jackie pounced, 'based on the laws _you_ support, there would have to be a wizard with them at all times when they're outside of their "special area." Why would you be so afraid?'

David opened his mouth, closed it, and frowned. Nathaniel gave Jackie a high five.

'Fine, you win,' David grumbled. Jackie smiled and began writing down the arguments they had used.

After break, Nathaniel, Ari and Jackie went to Transfiguration, where they met up with Alex and David. They sat at the desks by twos, Alex found a friend from Gryffindor and David and Nathaniel sat together, but another Ravenclaw walked in.

'Oh, no,' Jackie moaned, turning to Ari. 'Quick, hide me.'

Ari didn't even need to turn around. 'Is Greg here?'

'Yeah.'

Gregor Abbot was the Ravenclaw in their year that had had a crush on Jackie since their first year. Jackie had tried to be subtle in letting him down at first, and then she flat out told him to go away. All he had said was 'I like a challenge.' His philosophy seemed to be that if he kept after her she would eventually fall for him.

Greg stood in the middle of the room and started scanning, but the bell rang before he could find Jackie. Professor McGonagall entered the room and fixed him with a stare until he sat down.

Professor McGonagall began with the same speech Professors Flitwick and Sprout had. Jackie wondered if they had handed out an outline to all the teachers of what to say in their first class. When finished, Professor McGonagall informed them that they would start off the year with human transformation and assigned them all a chapter to read in their books. By that time, their forty-five minutes in class had passed and the class filed out.

'It's only one chapter, David,' Alex was saying.

'But look at the size of these chapters!' he complained. 'They're massive!'

'Did you expect N.E.W.T.s to be any easier than O.W.L.s?' Nathaniel pointed out.

David deflated. 'No, I guess not…'

Alex turned off at the Entrance Hall, after a hug and kiss for David that prompted some comments and catcalls, and the other four continued on to Herbology. When the final bell rang, the four Ravenclaws went to Ravenclaw Tower to drop off their things and get ready for dinner. After dinner, Jackie sat on her bed and got to work on the Transfiguration chapter. She opened her window to let some fresh air in and Earl, her mum's owl, flew in.

'Hey, boy.' She stroked his head and untied the packages with her and Ari's names on before Earl took off again, presumably to drop off Josh's package.

'Hey, Ari,' Jackie called over. 'Happy birthday.' Ari looked up, confused, as Jackie tossed Ari's package to her bed. Jackie turned back to her own package and tore off the wrapping. A box emerged with a letter on top.

 _Jackie,_

 _Hey, honey! How were your first few days? I'm doing well, work is the same as usual – we are busy enough to need more help but not quite busy enough to get it._

 _I hope that you are having a good time. Has Ari embarrassed herself in front of Derrick yet?_

 _I hope to hear from you soon._

 _Love,_

 _Mum_

Jackie smiled and opened the box. It was stuffed to the brim with her favourite baked goods. She took one of the biscuits and stuck it in her mouth before grabbing a piece of parchment to write back.

 _Mum,_

 _Hi! My first few days have been great. I haven't gotten too much homework, but I'm sure that will change._

 _Actually, Ari hasn't done anything embarrassing in front of Derrick because I'm kinda-sorta seeing him. We haven't really done anything but walk and talk, but I guess you could count that as dating… Ari certainly does._

 _Thanks for the sweets! I love you too, don't stress so much about work._

-Jackie

Jackie folded up the letter and put it in her bag. She would go to the owlry after dinner.

As Jackie wandered up the stairs to the owlry, she was lost in thought. Which meant she practically ran over Derrick, who was coming out of the owlry. He caught her as she ricocheted off of him and almost fell.

'Oh, I'm sorry!' she apologised, feeling her cheeks grow warm.

'It's fine, I wasn't watching either. In fact, I was hoping to find you.'

'Here?' Jackie looked around. They were standing in a hallway with no windows, few portraits and the sole door led to the owlry.

Derrick laughed. 'Well, not here in particular, but I wanted to ask you something.'

'Yes?'

Derrick took her hand. 'Would you like to go on a date on Saturday?'

Jackie smiled. 'Certainly. Where are we going?'

Derrick smiled mischievously. 'That is for me to know and you to find out. Meet me in the Entrance Hall at five. See you then.' He kissed her hand and smiled. Jackie giggled as he turned and walked away.

Before handing it off, Jackie took out the letter and a quill to add a post script to her mum.

 _P.S. I have a date with Derrick on Saturday, so I guess we're officially dating now. Wish me luck!_

Anastasia flew down and Jackie tied the letter to her leg. After an owl treat and affectionate nibble, Anastasia took off.


	5. Five: It's Never a Bad Day for Quidditch

When Jackie woke up, it was pitch black outside. She still put on her running clothes, optimistic that it would clear up, and went down to the Entrance Hall where Stephen was waiting for her, looking out the windows. It was still dark, and the clouds looked even more menacing than they had from Ravenclaw Tower.

'I wouldn't trust that,' he observed, turning and jerking his thumb toward the sky outside.

'I guess no run today,' Jackie sighed. Stephen just grinned. She raised an eyebrow. 'What?'

'I have something to show you.' He grabbed her hand and pulled her along behind him.

'Where are we going?' Jackie tried to remember the turns they made so she wouldn't get lost trying to get back. She didn't usually come to this part of the castle.

'Wait here.' He let go of her hand and walked back and forth in front of a section of wall three times.

'Stephen, what are you…' Jackie trailed off as she felt her mouth drop open. A door had appeared in the wall.

Stephen walked over and held it open for Jackie. 'Welcome to the Room of Requirement.'

'I thought this was only a legend,' Jackie gasped as she walked through the door. Inside was an exact replica of the lake outside, minus the dark sky.

'You want to go four laps today?' Stephen asked as the door closed.

'Sure. Ready?'

They ran their four laps and Stephen led the way back to the Entrance Hall. With a wave and smile, they parted to get ready for breakfast.

Through Transfiguration and Potions, Jackie couldn't concentrate. She kept thinking about Quidditch and couldn't wait to get the season started. Finally, the bell rang and Jackie's free period began. She bade a hurried 'See you later,' to Nathaniel and ran to Professor Flitwick's office. She stopped just outside the door to collect herself before he let her in.

'Hello, Ms Andrews. I'm assuming you are here for the Quidditch information,' he greeted her, searching for something on his desk. Jackie nodded as he handed her a piece of parchment. 'Here is the list of hopefuls. I've booked the pitch for you this weekend; you may use it for tryouts or practice – it is yours to decide.' He smiled. 'I'm looking forward to seeing what you do this year.'

'Thanks, Professor,' Jackie smiled back.

As she walked to Ravenclaw Tower, Jackie looked over the list. There were a few fifth and sixth years, but the majority seemed to be fourth years or younger. With a groan, she saw that Greg's name was there.

 _This should be interesting,_ she thought as she ran through the current team in her head. They had two returning Chasers – David and Rebecca – and two Beaters left – Nathaniel and herself. They had lost three seventh years last year – a Chaser, the Keeper and the Seeker. Jackie hoped that they could fill those spots as those who had left had been some of the best. During lunch, Jackie called Nathaniel, David and Rebecca over.

'I was planning on having tryouts this weekend, sound good?'

'Sure.'

'Yeah, that's fine.'

'Aye, aye, captain.' That was Nathaniel.

'Okay, meet on the pitch at twelve thirty. We'll get a bit of flying in before tryouts at one.'

'See you then.'

During Charms that afternoon, Jackie gave Lucas Wood a note to give to Derrick.

 _How about Sunday instead?_  
- _Jackie_

As Jackie walked to the Arithmancy room, she wondered what to expect. She was sure that most of her class from last year had either failed the O.W.L. or chosen to not continue, so she had no idea who all would be there. She was the first one in the room, but she was closely followed by Trent Black, Stephen Flint and a few Hufflepuffs. There were no tables or chairs, so they all just stood in the doorway, waiting.

Professor Vector greeted the class with a warm smile. 'Hello, everyone. As there are so few of us, I thought we should all sit a little closer.' She waved her wand and produced two tables for three people each in the front of the room. The three Hufflepuffs immediately sat together, leaving Jackie to share a table with Stephen and Trent. Stephen greeted her with a smile and Trent gave her a nod. She smiled and nodded back before Professor Vector began the day's lesson.

After class, Jackie walked down to the Entrance Hall with the two Slytherins.

'So, how did you find out about the Room of Requirement?' Jackie asked Stephen.

'It was actually Trent, here.' He clapped Trent on the back. Trent grinned. 'He found it 'cause he needed a place to hide from Filch.'

Jackie raised an eyebrow, so Trent explained. 'I knocked over three suits of armour and a cabinet. I didn't feel like getting caught, so I ran. As I ran past, a door appeared and I hid. It was this random room that had all sorts of weird stuff in it, like books and brooms and banned stuff.'

'That is weird,' Jackie agreed. By this time, they had reached the Entrance Hall.

'See you tomorrow,' Stephen grinned. Jackie waved to them both as they went their separate ways. She was surprised, but happy, that she and Stephen were becoming friends.

During her free period, Jackie made notes to give to everyone wanting to tryout.

 _Tryouts are this Saturday at one p.m. Meet on the Quidditch pitch. If you do not have a broom, there will be some provided for you to use.  
I look forward to seeing you there!_  
- _Jackie Andrews, Ravenclaw Captain_

She charmed the notes to fly to the appropriate beds and got to work on her homework.

At dinner, Jackie started as a note flew over and landed on her dinner plate.

 _Sunday should be fine, as long as you aren't ditching me to go see some other guy…  
-Derrick_

Jackie laughed and took out her quill.

 _Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that there's a wait list for my time on weekends. Sorry about that._  
- _Jackie_

She used her wand to send it back and watched for his reaction. He laughed and picked up his own quill.

 _What number am I?_

 _Forty-nine. Wait, maybe fifty. I lost count somewhere around thirty._

 _Well, then, I'm glad that you could squeeze me in there somewhere. So, what're you doing on Saturday?_

 _Quidditch stuff._

 _Ah, I see. Sunday it is, see you then._

By the end of their conversation, dinner was over. Ari had been watching them both intently and she was ready to pounce once she and Jackie had made it to their dorm.

'What did he say?' she squealed, jumping to sit on her bed.

'He said that Sunday would be fine,' Jackie began and froze. She hadn't told Ari that Derrick had asked her on a date. Ari's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open.

'Oh…' Jackie braced herself.

'What do you mean 'Sunday's fine'?' Ari exploded. 'You mean he asked you out and you didn't tell me?!'

Jackie gave a small smile. 'Well, it only happened yesterday–'

'It's been a whole day and you haven't told me?!'

'Er, I haven't told anyone else,' Jackie offered in her defense.

Ari calmed down. 'Well, I guess that's okay. So, what are you going to do?'

'I have no idea, he wouldn't tell me,' Jackie shrugged.

The next day was clear again and Jackie hoped that it would stay that way for tryouts the next day. During their run, Stephen and Jackie talked about school and classes. As they walked to the castle, Stephen asked her a question.

'What would you say to Trent coming out to run with us?'

'Er, I guess it'd be fine. Did you think it wouldn't be?'

He smiled. 'I just wanted to be sure that you would be willing to share me.'

Jackie laughed. 'Oh, it was a hard decision, but I think I'll manage.' They were still smiling as they parted in the Entrance Hall.

After Transfiguration that morning, David complained again about the amount of homework they had to do.

'You do realise that we have until next Wednesday to do it,' Ari pointed out.

'Oh, yeah,' he shrugged.

Jackie spent her free period finishing her Arithmancy homework and reading before planning tryouts. She split the group of twenty hopefuls into four groups based on the positions they wanted to try – one for Keeper, one for Seekers and two for Chasers – and planned what they would do.

In Arithmancy, Trent gave her a smile. 'Thanks for letting me run with you guys.'

Jackie laughed. 'You guys make it sound like it's my lake – it's not. You don't need my permission or anything.'

After class, Jackie walked down with them again. As they reached the Entrance Hall, Alamexia Nott came running. 'Trent, there you are!' she squealed, grabbing his arm. Trent waved as they turned. As they walked away, Jackie heard Alamexia's voice, 'What were you doing with _her?_ '

Stephen grimaced as he turned back to Jackie. 'Sorry about her.'

Jackie shrugged and shook her head. She had heard worse. 'It's fine. What's up with those two?'

'They've been betrothed practically since birth. Their two families have planned out their lives together.' Stephen rolled his eyes as he explained. 'So, do you run on weekends?'

'Every day,' Jackie smiled. 'See you tomorrow.'

The next day was clear and perfect. Jackie met Stephen in the Entrance Hall and they began their run.

'So, Trent didn't want to come out today?' Jackie asked.

Stephen laughed. 'I tried to wake him up, but he was out like a rock.'

Jackie laughed too. She felt jubilant. She couldn't wait for the day to begin, and apparently it showed.

'You seem particularly cheerful today,' Stephen observed about halfway through.

'Quidditch tryouts are today, and I'm glad that it's a nice day,' Jackie grinned.

'It's never a bad day for Quidditch,' Stephen grinned back. 'I think ours are next week. I can't wait to get playing.'

They spent the rest of the run talking about Quidditch and Stephen wished her luck as they parted. Jackie spent the morning relaxing in her room and went down to an early lunch before meeting up with the returning team.

'Alright, everyone. Ready?'

Rebecca jumped up. 'Let's go.'

They got changed in the locker room. After a few laps around the pitch, Jackie took out the chest of practice balls and David and Rebecca immediately took the Quaffle and began passing to each other. Nathaniel and Jackie stretched their arms and swung their bats for a moment before letting a Bludger go. They all gradually got warmed up, so they got farther and farther apart until they were at opposite ends of the pitch, David and Rebecca throwing the Quaffle and Jackie and Nathaniel hitting the Bludger back and forth. As it got closer to one, more and more students filled the stands and watched. Jackie told the other three to ignore them, but she saw many looks of awe, especially on the younger students' faces.

Promptly at one, Jackie caught the Bludger and turned to the onlookers. 'Welcome to Quidditch tryouts. How many of you don't have a broom?' About fifteen of them raised their hands so Jackie hit the Bludger to Nathaniel and flew to the shed.

Once everyone had a broom, Jackie continued. 'Alright, everyone, I've sorted you all into groups based on what position you want to try out for.' As Jackie read off the groups, she saw a few looks of surprise. She had deliberately put younger students with older ones. 'Now, I want everyone to fly once around the pitch. If you fall off your broom or don't make it back by the time I say "Stop," I'm sorry, but thanks for coming.'

This turned out to be a smart idea. Ten of the twenty were knocked out immediately – most of them had fallen off their brooms. Of the remaining ten, two were Seekers, two were Keepers and six were Chasers.

Chaser tryouts occurred first. They all flew and passed the Quaffle to each other while Nathaniel and Jackie hit a Bludger around. The ball hogs were eliminated, as well as those who couldn't catch. In the end, Diana Maxwell, a fifth year, joined the team.

After the Chasers, the Keepers were up. Each of the three chasers took two penalty shots against each Keeper. James Myers, another fifth year, saved all his shots but one, and he managed to tip that one so it barely bounced through the hoop. He joined the team.

'Okay, now,' Jackie turned to the Seekers, 'you're up.' The two left were Greg and Edward Hale, a second year. Jackie was surprised, but pleased, to see how far he'd come in the try-outs and how good he was. 'We're going to be flying around like it was an actual practice or game. I'm going to let the Snitch loose and the one who catches it is on the team. Understood?' They both nodded and Jackie signaled the others to begin. After a moment, Jackie turned a Bludger loose and let the Snitch go. They were flying for five minutes before Edward came racing towards the side of the pitch Jackie was at and caught the Snitch.

'Congratulations,' Jackie smiled at him. 'Thanks for coming, Greg,' she called as he started flying over.

Jackie turned to her team so she could ignore the look of anger on Greg's face. He flew to the locker rooms and out of Jackie's thoughts as she addressed her new team. 'We're going to have a quick practice here to see how everyone works together and get a few plays figured out.' Everyone agreed and took off.

They all got along great and Jackie got excited. In the locker room afterwards, she approached Edward.

'Hey, I have a quick question. Do you have your own broom?'

Edward's face fell. 'No. does that mean I can't play?'

Jackie smiled encouragingly. 'Of course not. I just think that you'd be better on your own broom, not the bloody school ones. I'll hunt down a _Which Broomstick_ for you.'

'Oh, okay. Thanks.' He still looked crestfallen, so Jackie sat down next to him.

'Is there anything you want to tell me?'

'Well,' Edward's face was flushed and he looked embarrassed. 'My parents are Muggles, and they're not exactly rich…' He glanced around the empty locker room to make sure no one else heard that.

'Ah,' Jackie nodded. 'I see. I'll go talk to Professor Flitwick to see what we can do.'

Edward gave a small smile. 'Thanks, Captain.'

'You can call me Jackie,' she smiled back.


	6. Six: Changing Perspectives

That evening, Jackie found Professor Flitwick in his office.

'Ah, Ms Andrews. Come in, come in. To what do I owe the pleasure?'He smiled in welcome.

'I have a couple questions, Professor.' Jackie entered the office and sat down in a chair. 'Is there a scholarship of some sort for Quidditch players?'

'Why do you ask?' He began rummaging around in his desk.

'Well, my new Seeker is Edward Hale. He's a second year and he needs his own broom. He's good on the school ones, but I think that he could be so much better. However, he told me that his family doesn't have enough money to get him a good broom. Is there anything for him?'

'Ah, here it is.' Professor Flitwick pulled out a piece of parchment. 'You fill in the 'Reason' section and have Mr Hale send it to his family. They fill out the rest and send it back.' He held out the parchment for Jackie. She took it and saw that it was a scholarship application.

'Thank you, Professor.' Jackie smiled, then hesitated.

'Now, you implied that you had another question for me?' he prompted.

Jackie took a breath. 'What is the school policy on letting Muggles come to Quidditch games?'

Professor Flitwick looked surprised. He obviously hadn't expected anything of this sort. 'They would not be allowed to come. They wouldn't understand the game anyway.' Jackie's face fell, causing Professor Flitwick to continue. 'Why do you ask?'

'Well,' Jackie said, recalling the argument she had thought up that afternoon, 'Edward is Muggle-born, and I wanted to let his parents come see our first match.'

'They would be completely immersed in our lifestyle, Ms Andrews. Who knows what they might tell their Muggle friends when they got back home.'

'Maybe they wouldn't tell anyone,' Jackie argued.

'Parents generally get very proud of their children. I'm sure that they would want to tell someone, and they might let it slip – even if they promised not to say anything. They are Muggles after all.' Professor Flitwick was taking on the tone that drove Jackie crazy – the 'I know what's best, and you obviously don't, end of story' one.

'But, Professor,' Jackie fought to keep her voice steady. 'If we convince them that it would be best for their son if they pretended that it was a football game and that they couldn't tell anyone the truth, they would probably hold their tongues. Parents generally get very protective of their children, as well.'

Professor Flitwick had a curious look on his face. 'Hm. Well, then, Ms Andrews. If you are willing to be held responsible for their actions, I'll speak to Professor Dumbledore about this.'

'Thank you, Professor Flitwick,' Jackie replied. She didn't turn around as she left, so she didn't see the pensive look on Professor Flitwick's face.

Thankfully, Jackie didn't have to wait long to learn the outcome. During dinner, a message dropped in front of her.

 _Please meet me in my office after dinner.  
-Professor Dumbledore_

Nathaniel read it over her shoulder. 'What'd you do?' he asked.

'You'll find out soon enough,' Jackie evaded.

'Wait, you're not in trouble, are you?' David asked.

'I don't think so,' Jackie responded pleasantly, smiling at her friends' faces, which ranged from surprised to scared. 'Seriously, don't worry about it.'

Ari looked sceptical so Jackie chose to leave dinner a little early. 'See you all later.' She waved cheerfully as she left the Great Hall.

As she walked down the corridor to Professor Dumbledore's office, the thought suddenly occurred to her that she didn't know the password to get in. She dug in her pocket to get her wand out when the note that she had received during dinner fell out. The message had disappeared to be replaced by two words.

 _Acid Pops_

Confused, Jackie approached the gargoyle. 'Acid pops?' The gargoyle jumped to the side and revealed the spiraling staircase that led to the Headmaster's office. Jackie had been in there before, so she didn't feel any qualms about being there when Professor Dumbledore was not. She went over to stroke Fawkes's head.

She didn't have long to wait before the door opened again and Professor Dumbledore walked in. 'Hello, Ms Andrews. Please sit down,' he greeted her, waving his wand to cause purple squishy chairs to appear beside the fireplace. 'Would you like anything to drink?'

'No, thank you, Professor.'

'Now, I understand that you have a pressing issue for me?' he prompted once they were both seated.

'Well, sir,' Jackie began, trying not to let her voice crack. 'My new Seeker, Edward Hale, is a Muggle-born. I'm sending his parents a scholarship application so he can get a broom, but I would like for them to be able to see what their son can do on the broom they're applying for. He really is bloody f– er, I mean… quite good.' Jackie felt her ears start to burn.

Professor Dumbledore smiled at her almost slip-up. 'You know that would be against the Statute of Secrecy, my dear.'

'But, sir, perhaps we could convince them that it is imperative that they not tell anyone the truth. We could tell them to just pretend that it was a football game or something if they want to tell their friends about what their son does at school. After all, wizarding parents can come see their children play anytime, why can't Muggle parents?'

'I see you feel very strongly about this.' Jackie was unsure whether to take that as a compliment or not as Professor Dumbledore pulled a folded piece of parchment out of his pocket. 'Here is a letter I have written to Mr and Mrs Hale. Send it with your scholarship application, please.'

'Thank you, sir.' Jackie beamed. Professor Dumbledore's eyes twinkled at her as she took the parchment and ran back to Ravenclaw tower. Once in her dorm, Jackie filled out her portion of the form and composed her own letter to Edward's parents. After multiple drafts, Jackie read through her latest.

 _Dear Mr and Mrs Hale,  
Hello. My name is Jackie Andrews, and I am the captain of the Ravenclaw House Quidditch Team. Your son, Edward, has been chosen to play Seeker for my team. He has great talent, but it is my opinion that he is somewhat hindered by the less-than-adequate brooms the school supplies. If he could get his own broom, I believe that he could be so much better. Enclosed is a scholarship application. I have filled out part, you just need to finish it and send it in.  
Our first match is on October eleventh. I know that Edward would like to see you there, and I would like to meet you. Professor Dumbledore has also written a letter to you, which is enclosed as well.  
Please feel free to contact myself, Professor Flitwick, or Professor Dumbledore should you have any questions at all.  
Thank you._  
 _Jackie Andrews_

Satisfied, Jackie went to find Edward. She found him sitting at a table in the common room.

'Hey, Edward,' she greeted him, sitting across the table from him.

'Hi Cap- I mean, Jackie.'

'Here you go.' She handed him the envelope. 'Send this to your parents, please.'

'What's this?' he asked, taking the envelope and feeling its thickness.

'It's a scholarship application for a broom, plus a letter from me and one from Professor Dumbledore. You can go ahead and add a letter from you, if it doesn't make the envelope too heavy for your owl to carry,' Jackie joked.

'Thanks, Jackie!' He beamed, gathering his things and walking to the stairs. Jackie smiled to herself and went to her room to read.

After her run the following morning, Jackie read in her room until Ari came to drag her out.

'You can't stay in here all day,' she implored, grabbing Jackie's arm.

'Yes, I can,' Jackie muttered. 'Just watch me.'

'Good morning, sunshine,' Nathaniel greeted Jackie in the common room. She gave him the evil eye and sat down to continue reading.

'Is that the book with ten-thousand pages?' Nathaniel asked.

Jackie laughed. 'It's only a thousand.'

' _Only_ a thousand…' he muttered.

The friends spent the rest of the morning together in the common room. Around lunchtime, Nathaniel disappeared to get them all some food. While he was gone, Anastasia flew into the common room and landed on Jackie's shoulder.

'Hey, girl,' Jackie greeted her with an owl treat and took the letter. Anastasia gave a happy hoot and affectionate nibble before taking off back to the owlry.

'Who's that from?' Alex asked from David's lap.

'My mum,' Jackie told them as she opened it.

 _My Dear Jaquelyn,  
Hello my darling. I was just writing today to ask how your big date with Derrick went last night. Write soon!  
Love,  
Mum_

Ari laughed as she read the salutation. 'I know Elizabeth, she only writes like that when she really wants to know some gossip.' She went into imitation mode. '"My Dearest Arianna, hello darling. How was the Yule Ball last night? Write soon!" It's like that every year.' Everyone laughed as Nathaniel walked through the doors.

'What'd I miss?' The look on his face only caused everyone to laugh harder.

Nathaniel just shrugged and set out the food. They all spent the early afternoon together in the common room.

As four-thirty came around, Jackie felt the butterflies begin to flutter around in her stomach. She went up to get ready, ignoring the comment Ari made to the others. She was at a loss of what to wear, however. Dress robes? Normal robes? Muggle clothes?

She finally decided on a nice shirt and jeans from her Muggle clothes. She walked back through the common room quickly, trying her best to ignore the whistles and comments that her friends called to her. She entered the Entrance Hall at five o'clock on the dot and saw Derrick waiting for her.

'Hey,' he greeted her with a smile.

'Hi,' she greeted him back.

'Shall we?' He offered her his arm. Jackie grinned and nodded, taking it.

'So, how did tryouts go?' Derrick asked as he led her through the corridors.

'Oh, it was good. We've got a solid team; I'm excited for the season to start.'

'I'm just glad that I don't need to replace anyone this year,' Derrick said. 'We start practice next week,' he gloated.

'Well, we started yesterday,' Jackie gloated right back. They both laughed and Jackie realised that she knew where they were walking.

'Hey, are we going to–' she started.

'Hang on,' Derrick cut her off. 'Close your eyes and stay here.'

'What's going on?' Jackie asked, eyes closed, though she felt she already knew.

'Just one more second,' Derrick instructed her, taking her hands and leading her forward.

'Can I open my eyes yet?'

'Ok, now.' Jackie heard the excitement in his voice.

Jackie opened her eyes and looked around. They were in a small-ish room with a table set for two and a couch facing one of those boxes Muggles used to watch movies.

'Are we in the Room of Requirement?' Jackie asked as she examined the room.

Derrick looked surprised that she knew. 'Yeah. I've asked one of the house-elves to bring us up some food around five-thirty. For some reason, this room won't come with food.'

'Well, food is the first of the five Principal Exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration,' Jackie told him offhandedly.

Derrick's face went blank for a moment before he laughed. 'Spoken like a true Ravenclaw. Who's Gamp?'

Jackie laughed. 'We learned this last year; it was on the Transfiguration O.W.L.'

Derrick shrugged. 'Right. Well, ready to eat?'

'Sure.' Jackie let him lead her to the table. As she sat down, a house-elf Apparated next to the table.

'Here is the dinner you is wanting, Mr Derrick.'

'Thank you, Dotty.' Once Dotty had Disapparated, Derrick served Jackie. As they ate steak and vegetables, they chatted about school and Quidditch and anything else that came to their minds. After dinner, Derrick led Jackie to the couch.

'Now, have you seen any Muggle movies?' he asked.

'No. Have you?' Jackie asked in surprise. She thought that the Turpins were a pureblood family.

'Yeah, before Hogwarts I had a bunch of Muggle friends and we watched movies all the time. Even now, I have a TV in my room at home and I still watch them. My friends keep me updated when I go back to visit, Muggles make some pretty good movies.' Suddenly, a box appeared on the shelf next to the 'Teevee.' Derrick picked it up and took out another box-like object and put that into a slot under the picture screen.

'What are we going to watch?' Jackie inquired as Derrick sat next to her.

'"Young Frankenstein" – one of my favourites,' he informed her as the lights dimmed and the movie started.

Around the middle of the movie, Derrick got up to get some dessert for the two of them. When he sat back down, Jackie noticed that he sat a bit closer, and once they had finished their snacks, he reached out to take her hand. Jackie glanced down and smiled to herself before turning back to the movie.

Once the movie was over and they both stopped laughing, the lights came back up and Derrick looked over at her.

'Well, what'd you think?'

Jackie smiled. 'That was great. I liked it.'

Derrick smiled in relief. 'Good. Ready to go?'

Jackie nodded and stood up. Derrick stood up with her, not letting go of her hand. They walked back to the Entrance Hall and up the marble staircase together.

'So,' Derrick began. 'Same time next week?'

Jackie smiled and nodded. 'It's a date.' They hugged and went their separate ways. As soon as Jackie entered the Ravenclaw common room, Ari pounced.

'Come on.' She grabbed Jackie's arm and practically dragged her across the room. Jackie barely had time to wave at Nathaniel, lounging in an armchair, before she and Ari were going up the stairs to their dorm.

'Okay, start talking,' Ari demanded as soon as they were safe in the dorm.

Jackie sighed, smiled and began recounting her evening. When she mentioned Derrick holding her hand, Ari's face lit up, only to fall when Jackie said they had hugged at the end.

'No kiss?' Ari looked dejected, which only caused Jackie to laugh. 'Hm, well, I guess you still have time. Maybe he'll do it at the Yule Ball…'

'Ari, it's the sixth day of school. The Ball's in December,' Jackie interrupted Ari's soliloquy.

'So?'

Jackie just laughed again. 'Never mind. I'm going downstairs.'

'How'd it go?' was Nathaniel's only question.

'Good,' Jackie responded before continuing on her Arithmancy homework and composing a letter back to her mum.

September turned into October much the same way. Jackie found her balance between friends, Quidditch and homework while Ari seemed to find friends and gossip of a much higher priority than school work. Trent joined Stephen and Jackie on the runs every morning, and he was steadily getting better. Jackie was pleasantly surprised to find herself opening up around them as they all became good friends. Defense Against the Dark Arts classes continued to be very interesting, and everyone continued to speculate what Professor White's past had been like. Edward got money enough to get a Nimbus Two Thousand – the best broom on the market. Mr and Mrs Hale responded that they would love to come see the first Quidditch match and that they understood the implications of what Jackie was doing for them and consequences of telling the truth to their friends. Jackie scheduled practices for every Saturday, and as their first match approached she began Tuesday and Thursday evening practices as well. Every Sunday, Jackie met Derrick at five o'clock in the Entrance Hall and they ate dinner and watched a movie together. They were going through Derrick's favourite comedies – ones directed by 'Mel Brooks' eventually. Derrick began to put his arm around her shoulder as they watched the night's movie, but he never tried to kiss her, for which Jackie was grateful. And, every Sunday, Ari was disappointed when Jackie told her that they hadn't kissed.

October eleventh dawned crisp and clear – the perfect day for the first Quidditch match of the season, Ravenclaw versus Slytherin. Jackie, Stephen and Trent ran shorter than normal and wished each other luck as they went to their common rooms to get ready. Jackie showered and grabbed her Quidditch stuff before heading down to the Great Hall.

She met up with the rest of her team at the Ravenclaw table. They all forced down a small breakfast before walking down to the pitch. Jackie took a walk around the pitch until she could hear the sounds of the school coming from the castle. Inside the locker room, everyone but Edward seemed relatively at ease. Jackie got changed into her blue Quidditch robes and went to sit next to him.

'Are you alright?'

He looked up from the patch of floor he had been inspecting and attempted a weak smile. 'Yeah, yeah I'll be fine.'

'Hey.' Jackie put a hand on his shoulder. 'You'll do great, kid. If you just fly like you have been in practice, you'll be unstoppable and there's no way we'll lose.'

His face brightened up. 'Really? You think so?'

Jackie smiled and nodded. 'I know so.' Suddenly, Lee Jordan, the commentator from Gryffindor, began the commentary and his voice filled the locker room. Jackie led her team through the tunnel and out on the pitch as he introduced them.

'…and second year Seeker, Hale! And here comes the Slytherin team…' His voice was momentarily drowned out as the crowd either cheered (Slytherin section) or booed and hissed (everyone else).

Jackie called her team together under their goal posts. 'Okay, guys, we can do this. Just fly like you've all been flying for me during practices and we will win. Now get up there and warm up.' They went through a few warm ups before Madam Hooch called them all to the ground to start the match. To Jackie's surprise, Trent flew down to face her at the center of the pitch. All those times they had talked about Quidditch and he hadn't mentioned this?

'Captains, shake hands,' Madam Hooch instructed them. Trent smiled as he held out his hand and Jackie grinned back as she took it.

The whistle sounded and fifteen brooms took off into the air. The Quaffle immediately began flying about, instantly followed by Jordan's voice. Jackie tuned out the commentary and focused on the Bludgers, which were released with the Snitch after thirty seconds and a Ravenclaw goal.

An hour and a half later, the game was still going. Jackie could hear the moans from the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs as each goal put them farther and farther behind in the Cup race before they'd even had a chance to start. Jackie and Nathaniel were hard at work hitting the Bludgers all over the pitch, James was performing spectacularly, all three Chasers seemed to be scoring every other second, and Edward hadn't stopped moving in his search or the Snitch. Jackie was so proud of her team, they were all flying beautifully.

Finally, Jackie saw Edward flatten himself on his broom and race towards the Ravenclaw fan section. The Slytherin Seeker followed suit, but Jackie hit a Bludger at him that caused him to veer off course and Edward caught the Snitch easily. However, in hitting that Bludger, Jackie saw that a crack had appeared on her bat. She mentally reminded herself to see if it could be fixed once she got back to the castle.

The Ravenclaw section had exploded in cheers. Somehow, Lee Jordan's voice managed to be heard over the chaos, 'And, after a stunning match and a score if 240-270 to Slytherin, Ravenclaw's young Seeker catches the Snitch, ending the game at 270-390 to Ravenclaw! Congratulations, Ravenclaw! Well done, Slytherin! And we'll see you all back here in two weeks for Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff!'

'Good job, Edward!' Jackie flew down and gave him a hug.

Edward was positively radiant. 'Thanks, Jackie. Are my parents here?'

In response, a couple walked up to them led by Professor Dumbledore.

'Mum! Dad!' Edward hugged them both before introducing them to Jackie.

'Pleased to meet you,' Jackie said as she shook their hands. 'I'm so glad you both made it.'

'Thank you for making it so we could come,' Mrs Hale thanked Jackie warmly.

Jackie smiled. 'You're very welcome. Now, if you'll excuse me, I should be going.'

Before she got far, Derrick appeared behind her. 'Great match,' he grinned, giving her a hug.

'Thanks,' Jackie grinned back.

'Well, I had better get going. I've got a test to study for. See you tomorrow,' he said, giving Jackie another quick hug and walking back to the castle. Jackie's smile wavered for a moment, but she realised that he probably was really busy – he was a seventh year, after all.

As Jackie walked across the pitch and to the locker rooms, she saw Trent from across the sea of people. He gave her a smile, wink and mouthed 'Good job,' before disappearing into the Slytherin locker room. He really had a good-looking smile.

Jackie found herself grinning to herself and staring at the closed Slytherin locker room door. She blinked a few times and shook her head slightly before walking into the Ravenclaw locker room, hoping no one saw her. Inside, she changed out of her Quidditch robes and looked at the board. 'Party in the common room!' was scrawled across it, and Jackie recognised Nathaniel's handwriting. Smiling and shaking her head, Jackie shouldered her broom and bat and began walking back up to the castle.

'Good game,' a voice called out. Jackie paused to look around and saw Stephen walking up behind her.

'Thanks, you too,' Jackie smiled as they fell into stride together.

'Your Keeper is really good,' Stephen told her. 'He saved tons of shots, even most of my trick shots.'

Jackie laughed. 'Obviously your trick shots aren't good enough.'

'Hey now,' Stephen interrupted her. 'I just gave you a compliment; you're not supposed to offend me like that.'

The look on his face made Jackie laugh. He was trying not to laugh and his mask was slowly slipping. Jackie's laughter made Stephen laugh as well, abandoning the martyred expression.

'Okay, so I'm not that offended,' he admitted, shrugging with a smile.

'I'm glad. Hey, how does the Room of Requirement work?' Jackie asked.

'You need to walk past that section of wall on the seventh floor three times thinking of what you need.'

'Alright, thanks.'

'Why do you want to know?' he asked, raising an eyebrow and smirking.

Jackie raised her own eyebrow. 'There's probably a party going on in the common room and I just want a quiet place to read.'

'Oh, okay.'

'Do I want to know what you were thinking?'

Stephen looked pensive for a moment before ginning a wicked grin. 'No, probably not.'

Jackie shook her head and laughed. 'I'm going to trust you on that.'

'See you tomorrow,' he called as they parted ways in the Entrance Hall. Jackie smiled and waved.

The sounds of the party travelled down the winding staircase to where Jackie was climbing. With a sigh, she opened the door and entered the common room.

'To Jackie, the captain!' Most of the seventh and sixth years, toasted Jackie with their bottles of Firewhiskey, obviously drunk. As she smiled and waved, she pushed through the crowd. Once she was in the stairwell, she checked her watch. It was only three-thirty.

Rolling her eyes, Jackie dropped off her broom and held up her bat. It wasn't repairable. Jackie set it down with a sigh and grabbed her book. She made it back through the common room fairly quickly ('To the fire, it's always so bloody hot!' 'Robert, give me the bottle and get off the table.') and wove her way through the corridors to the patch of wall that led to the Room of Requirement.

 _I need a place to read… I need a place to read…_ On the third pass in front of the wall, a door appeared. Opening it, Jackie wondered what to expect.

Inside, Jackie saw a small room with a fireplace and couch, a side table with water and every wall was lined with bookshelves that were packed full of books. Jackie tried out the couch and found that it was the perfect size for her to curl up on.

'I could get used to this,' Jackie sighed as she settled in to read.

She wasn't sure how much time had gone by, but she had gone through another hundred pages when the door opened.

'Hello?' she called out, looking over at the door.

'Oh, sorry,' Lucas Wood responded. 'I didn't think anyone else was in here.' He looked around and grinned. 'I guess my place to read and yours are the same.'

Jackie smiled as well. 'Pull up a couch. It's quite comfortable in here.'

Lucas looked like he was concentrating for a moment before another couch appeared. 'If you don't mind…' He hesitated before sitting down.

'As long as you don't read aloud,' Jackie warned him with a grin, which he returned before sitting down.

They sat there together in silence until Jackie's watch beeped, signaling that it was eight o'clock.

'Whoa, is it that time already? I'd better be going,' Jackie excused herself, picking up her things.

'Alright, see you around.' Lucas waved as Jackie walked out.

The party had quieted down by the time Jackie walked back through the common room. (There were no more toasts from atop tables.) She grabbed some snacks from her trunk and worked on homework before falling asleep.


	7. Seven: Splinching and Shopping

The announcement on the board the next morning proclaimed that the first Hogsmeade trip of the year was to be in two weekends, on the twenty-fifth.

'Excellent,' Ari cheered. 'I've been wanting to look for a new pair of shoes.'

Jackie laughed as she looked at the larger announcement below the Hogsmeade notice.

 **Apparition Lessons**  
If you are seventeen years of age, or will turn seventeen on or before the 31st August next, you are eligible for a twelve-week course of Apparition Lessons from a Ministry of Magic Apparition instructor. Please sign below if you would like to participate. Cost: Ten Galleons.

Jackie and Ari were lucky to be farther forward, so they got to sign and get out of the way of the crowd that was converging to sign up. All the sixth years could talk about for the next week was Apparition lessons. Jackie and her friends spent their time discussing theories on what Apparition would be like.

Saturday came and Jackie walked to the Great Hall with Ari and Nathaniel. As they entered, they saw that the House tables had been cleared to the side and the four heads stood up front with a tall, willowy witch with long blonde hair. Jackie knew that she must be the Ministry official, and once the heads called for quiet this was confirmed.

'Hello,' she said in a rather airy voice. 'Welcome to Apparition lessons. I am Mary Daniels and I will be your instructor. Please form a line across the Hall.'

The heads had to help. Jackie saw Trent and Stephen a little ways over and waved to them. Stephen waved back and grinned, but Trent was only able to raise a hand in greeting before Alamexia Nott shot Jackie a venomous glare and pulled Trent's attention back to herself. Stephen shrugged apologetically. Jackie shook her head and shrugged too, hopefully conveying the message that she wasn't worried about it so he shouldn't be either.

Ari and Nathaniel were on either side of Jackie, and they saw that she had waved and followed her gaze. Ari's mouth dropped open and Nathaniel's eyebrow raised, but Mary Daniels called the Hall to attention so all Ari could do was gape at Jackie, who chose to ignore her.

'Professor Dumbledore has temporarily removed the spell forbidding Apparition within the castle for this Hall only. It would not be wise to try and Apparate anywhere outside this Hall.' With a wave of her wand, wooden hoops appeared about three feet in front of every student. 'Now, Apparition is as simple as remembering the three D's – Destination, Determination and Deliberation. First – fix your mind firmly on your _destination_. Next – focus your _determination_ to occupy your desired destination. Let every particle of yourself yearn to be in that hoop. Finally, and only when I give the command – turn on your spot and move with _deliberation_ through nothingness into your hoop.'

Jackie caught Nathaniel's eye and they both had to stifle their laughs.

'Ready? One –'

Jackie glanced around and saw that many people seemed alarmed at being asked to Apparate so soon.

'–two – three!'

Jackie turned on the spot and wound up facing the side wall. Many others had fallen down, including Ari.

'No matter, back to your feet everyone.'

The second, third and fourth rounds were no better, but as Mary Daniels gave them the count the fifth time, a crack and a yelp made every head turn to where Nicholas Bell was standing in his hoop, his left arm and foot lying on the ground in his original position. Professor McGonnagall moved quickly to him and after a bang and puff of purple smoke he stood with both arms and feet attached, looking quite shaken.

'Splinching, or the separation of random body parts,' Mary Daniels told them all as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened, 'occurs when you are not fully _determined_.'

However, at the end of the lesson, Nicholas's splinching was still the most exciting thing that happened.

'Don't worry,' Mary Daniels told them all as they filed out of the Great Hall. 'Until next Saturday, then.'

The sixth years walked out of the Great Hall disappointed but still chattering animatedly. As the Ravenclaws walked up the marble staircase, Jackie heard her name being called. She turned to see who it was, and she saw that Ari and Nathaniel stopped for her at the top of the stairs.

Stephen came up to Jackie at the middle of the stairs. 'Hey, did you have any plans for Hogsmeade next weekend?'

Jackie glanced up at Ari and Nathaniel. They hadn't told her anything. 'I don't think so. Why?'

'Well, it's the day before Trent's birthday and I wanted to surprise him with a bunch of friends in the Three Broomsticks. I'll give you more details later this week; I just wanted to let you know now.'

'Will I be imposing on anything?' Jackie asked, thinking of Alamexia.

Stephen seemed to read her mind. 'Not at all. She's staying here that day. And it'll just be us three for a while before some other Slytherins come.'

'Okay, it sounds good to me,' Jackie smiled.

'See you tomorrow,' Stephen smiled back as he turned to catch up with Trent.

Jackie walked up the stairs to where Ari and Nathaniel were waiting. Nathaniel seemed to be laughing at Ari, who looked like she was about to explode. Jackie wasn't sure whether it was from shock or anger, but she did look comical.

'We need to talk,' Ari demanded, grabbing Jackie's arm and practically dragging her up Ravenclaw Tower. Nathaniel just shrugged and laughed as Jackie waved back to him.

'Okay, spill.' Ari had pulled Jackie to their dorm. 'Who was that Slytherin?'

'That was Stephen Flint. He's a friend.' Jackie defended him.

'He's a what? Since when?' Ari's face made Jackie laugh.

'Ari, we've been running together every morning since term started.'

'You didn't tell me?'

'You didn't notice?'

Ari opened her mouth to retort, and then stopped. She looked pensive.

'Ari, you look like you're thinking harder than I've ever seen you.' Jackie laughed.

'I can't think of why I didn't notice.' Ari sounded like her whole world had just been shaken.

'You never woke up in time to see me,' she explained.

'Oh, right.' Ari conceded. 'So, what did Mr Slytherin want?'

Jackie sighed. 'His name is Stephen. And it's Trent's birthday on Sunday, so Stephen was going to surprise him with a bunch of friends in the Three Broomsticks.'

'Trent Who? Trent MacDougal? He's cute,' Ari mused.

Jackie laughed. 'He's also a third year. No, I mean Trent… er, Black.'

Ari's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates and her jaw dropped. 'Trent Black? What?! You _were_ waving to him! I can't believe it! You've got the hots for Trent Black, _Trent Black of all people!_ And you never told me!'

'I do _not_ "have the hots" for him!' Jackie interrupted, feeling her neck grow warm. 'We're just friends.'

Ari looked skeptical. 'Sure, sure.' Jackie rolled her eyes and grabbed her book and went down the stairs to see Nathaniel.

'Did she freak?' he asked with a smile.

'Only a little, I was expecting worse.'

'So, who was that?' he asked, still curious.

'Stephen Flint, one of the guys I run with in the mornings,' Jackie told him. 'It's Trent's birthday next weekend and we're gonna hang for a bit in Hogsmeade.'

'What about Derrick?'

'I was going to offer to meet up with him for lunch and after. I'll just see Trent and Stephen in the morning.'

'Oh, good thing you have a plan.' He gave her a smile and continued with his homework. Jackie found her favourite armchair and settled in to read, glad that Nathaniel didn't find gossip as high a priority as Ari.

The next afternoon, during dinner with Derrick, they chatted about school and Hogsmeade.

'Jackie,' Derrick started, looking sheepish. 'Would you be too terribly sad if I didn't accompany you to Hogsmeade on Saturday?'

'I guess not.' Jackie tried to keep her face neutral and not show that she was a bit hurt. 'What're you going to be doing?'

He sighed. 'I've got a huge Charms test to study for. Believe me, I'd much rather be with you, but Professor Flitwick is offering a tutor session on that day.'

'Alright, it's fine,' Jackie conceded.

The following Saturday, after Apparition lessons, Stephen and Jackie walked to the Three Broomsticks together. They were meeting with Trent in fifteen minutes.

'When're you meeting with that guy?' Stephen asked as they walked down High Street. When Jackie just cocked her head in confusion, he continued. 'That one guy from Gryffindor that you hang with a lot. The Quidditch captain.'

'You mean Derrick?' Jackie laughed. 'He's… er, got a Charms study session.'

'And you don't like that,' Stephen said. It wasn't a question.

'Perceptive, you are,' Jackie grumbled, trying not to get into too bad of a mood.

'Hey,' he intervened, putting a hand on her shoulder. 'I'm sure it'll all work out.'

Before she could do more than smile at him, he smiled back and opened the door to the bar for her - leading the way to an empty table. They sat and ordered drinks and talked a bit more about school and Quidditch until Jackie saw Trent enter the bar.

'Over here!' Stephen called. Trent smiled and walked over, and when he saw that Jackie was there his smile widened a bit.

'Hey, what are you doing here?' he asked as he sat down and took the butterbeer Stephen offered.

'Well, I heard that it's your birthday tomorrow, so I thought I'd come congratulate you on surviving another year.'

'Well, thanks, I guess. Does this mean that you doubted me?'

'Hey, it was my idea!' Stephen interrupted.

'He's right,' Jackie agreed with Stephen. 'He was the one that doubted you.'

'Exactly,' Stephen smiled smugly. Then it faded. 'Wait, what?' Trent and Jackie just laughed at him. They spent the morning in the Three Broomsticks and Jackie left them to find Nathaniel and Ari once more Slytherins showed up. Stephen walked her to the door.

'You still wary of us snakes?' he asked shrewdly.

'You and Trent seem to be growing on me, I dunno about the rest of you though.'

'Understandable.' He nodded.

'Just remember, eagles eat snakes,' Jackie called as she walked away. He tried to look offended, but he wound up laughing and waving back.

She found Ari and Nathaniel in Honeydukes. Not surprisingly, Ari was having trouble deciding what to get and Nathaniel was looking exasperated and like he wished he hadn't volunteered to shop with Ari.

'Ari, you've never liked Ice Mice.'

'But maybe now…'

'Ari,' Jackie intervened. 'Just get the Jelly Slugs. Then you'll be able to get something at Gladrag's.'

Jackie knew the magic words. Ari's face lit up and she put the Ice Mice back immediately. Nathaniel just laughed and shook his head at her.

'Let's go!' Ari exclaimed once she had purchased the Jelly Slugs.

'Do you even need anything?' Nathaniel asked.

Ari would not be deterred. 'Well, no, but you never know what you might find.'

Jackie turned to Nathaniel as Ari led the way. 'You learn to just let her go. She'll burn out soon enough.'

And burn out Ari did. Once she found a pair of shoes to go with her new dress robes, Ari was ready to go back to the school. The three of them walked back and spent the rest of the evening playing Exploding Snap and Wizarding Chess, along with the smack-talk that was to be expected when they played each other.

The run the following morning was mostly uneventful; Jackie was expecting Stephen to do something embarrassing to Trent in honor of his birthday but he didn't. She supposed that it would happen later, and from the look Trent gave her – one of slight panic – she guessed he thought the same way.

Jackie went to the Room of Requirement to have a room for her to finish her homework and read peacefully as the party Ari and Alex had planned was sounding like it was going to be a loud and crazy one. She spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon in there until she got hungry and went to the kitchens. Immediately on entering, she was surrounded by eager house-elves.

One came up to her, and Jackie recognised Dotty from her Sunday evening dates with Derrick. 'Good afternoon, Miss Jackie. Is there anything we can be getting you?'

'Sure, Dotty. I'd just like a quick snack for now – I'll be with Derrick tonight.'

'Yes, Miss Jackie.' And instantly there were trays of crackers and treacle tarts and anything else Jackie could have possibly wanted around her. She grabbed some of everything and thanked the elves as they bowed her out. She went back up to the common room and fought her way through the party to get to the staircase that led to the dorms. Once she had managed to get through the door – Alex and David were snogging in front of it and didn't seem to hear Jackie as she tried to get through – she went up to her dorm to eat and do homework.

The following Friday, Jackie, Stephen and Trent came back from their run to see pumpkins everywhere in the Entrance Hall. The Halloween decorations had been set up while they had been out running, and the Jack-o-Lanterns were floating in the Entrance Hall until dinner time, when they would be move to the Great Hall.

Jackie wasn't sure what to expect from Ari or Nathaniel, so she kept her wand within her reach the whole day. She didn't need to be so worried, though, because their efforts were directed against another. They seemed to be determined to prank David and Alex no matter the cost. Jackie wanted no part in the trouble, so she just watched their multiple failures all morning. No matter what they tried, David and Alex always seemed to be one step ahead of them. What Ari and Nathaniel didn't realise was that Jackie, David and Alex were always within earshot while they planned their pranks.

The Gryffindor v. Hufflepuff match was coming up, and the entire school was expectant. After a dynamic first game of the season, the Ravenclaws and Slytherins were looking forward to watching a neutral match and everyone hoped that it would be as good. It was even a perfect mid-November day for the match.

However, Gryffindor positively stomped all over Hufflepuff. The final score was 300-60. Jackie went down to the pitch afterward to congratulate Derrick.

'Good job!' She grinned as he pulled her into a hug. 'How does a celebratory movie in the Room sound?'

'Thanks. That sounds great, but I've got to study tonight.'

'Oh, right.' Jackie held her composure long enough for him to walk her up Ravenclaw Tower and get to her bed before she sat down in a daze. Wasn't hanging with her supposed to be what he wanted to do the most, even over studying? She understood that schoolwork was important, she was a Ravenclaw after all, but why did she feel this way?

The next morning, Jackie bolted upright in bed and barely managed to bite back a scream. It took her a moment to realise that she was in her dorm, safe in bed, and that it had only been a dream.

Concentrating on relaxing her racing lungs and heart, Jackie stalled getting up for a few moments longer - which caused her to be later than usual in meeting Stephen and Trent.

'Hey, sorry I'm late,' Jackie apologised as she walked up to them.

They both had smiles on their faces and Stephen looked like he was about to crack a joke, but as Jackie stepped into the light they saw her face and seemed to change his mind.

'Oh, it's no problem,' he assured her. 'Ready to go?'

Jackie nodded and followed Stephen as he led the way out. Trent walked next to her.

'Are you okay?' he asked softly, looking at her face. She just nodded and started running.

The run helped Jackie to clear her mind and she was in a better mood by the end.

'How about that Quidditch match yesterday?' Trent started. Stephen laughed.

'Match? More like a royal beating.'

Jackie laughed too. Trent smiled, and then shot a glare at Stephen on Jackie's other side. She turned, but Stephen was looking pointedly away. Jackie slowed and looked back and forth between the two before hitting them both.

'What was that for?' Stephen complained.

'Trent was giving you a dirty look and you changed it when I looked, so I figured you deserved it,' Jackie told him with a smirk.

'Then why'd you hit me?' Trent asked.

'Well, maybe you deserve it too. It's better to be thorough.'

They were all laughing as they parted in the Entrance Hall, which was now filled with students walking to breakfast.

Unfortunately, the fact that they were later than usual left Jackie alone in her dorm with only the silence to remind her of the dream that she'd had the previous night.

Once she was sure that she was alone, Jackie lied down on her bed and let a few tears fall. Unbidden, the memories of the dream came back to her.

 _You-Know-Who, or at least how she'd always imagined him, stood at the front of the Great Hall. No one else could see him. He caught her eye and gave her an evil smile. Suddenly, he was behind Nathaniel, across the table from Jackie._

' _Avada Kedavra.'_

 _The hall flashed green and Nathaniel slumped forward in his seat._

' _What?' Ari gasped. 'What just happened?'_

' _You-Know-Who,' Jackie gasped, barely holding back a sob. 'He's right there.'_

 _Ari turned to look where Jackie pointed. 'I don't see any–'_

 _Another flash of green and Ari fell to the floor. Jackie screamed and You-Know-Who just laughed, killing Josh before speaking to her._

' _You see how easy it is for you to be alone,' he said, his voice cold even as he laughed and shot another killing curse behind her. Jackie turned and saw Stephen fall. 'You see how easy it is for you to lose those you care for.' He pointed his wand at Derrick two tables over. Jackie's eyes widened and she gasped, but You-Know-Who cocked his head questioningly._

' _He is not the one you care the most for.' His wand moved to point at someone behind Jackie. She turned and saw Trent kneeling next to Stephen's limp form._

' _No,' she breathed, chest seizing up._

 _The hall flashed emerald green again and Jackie screamed._

She had woken up at that point and barely managed not to continue the scream her dream-self had started.

Lying on her bed, Jackie thought about the dream. One reason she was so shaken about it was that she didn't know what shook her the most – the fact that You-Know-Who had been right in how easily she was alone, all of her close friends had died, or that she'd been more afraid of Trent being killed than Derrick.


	8. Eight: Most Wonderful Time of the Year

As November turned into December, Christmas spirit began running rampart about the grounds and people of Hogwarts. There was snow on the ground, but that didn't stop Jackie, Stephen, or Trent. They just dressed warmer to go out running. Christmas decorations were going up and there were twelve huge decorated trees set up in the Great Hall. The common room bulletin board was covered by a large blue poster one morning:

 _All fourth years and above are cordially invited to  
Hogwarts's Annual Yule Ball  
To be held the 25_ _th_ _December.  
Dress robes are to be worn.  
First through third years may attend with an older date.  
Professor Burbage of Muggle Studies has organised the event  
and determined that it shall be a  
Masquerade.  
Please use the next Hogsmeade trip to purchase your masks.  
No one will be admitted without a mask._

Ari was excited for the need to going shopping again, Nathaniel groaned and said he'd wait for her in the Three Broomsticks and probably drink through all of their butterbeer while he waited.

In spite of the way everyone was feeling, though, there were still two more weeks before the end of the term. Jackie kept practices going through the week to prepare for Saturday's match against Hufflepuff.

December thirteenth arrived with a fresh foot of snow. Jackie looked out as she got ready to run and saw Hagrid, the gamekeeper, shoveling the snow off the Quidditch pitch.

Trent was the first one to step out the doors, and he sank up to his waist in the snow on his first step.

'Room of Requirement?' he suggested, trying to turn around.

'Works for me,' Jackie agreed as she helped him back out of the snow.

Stephen led the way to the room and the door was open when Jackie and Trent caught up. Jackie ran shorter and the Slytherins wished her luck in the match as she left.

She met up with the rest of the team at breakfast. After eating quickly, she led them down to the pitch to get some flying in to get used to the conditions. When she could see the rest of the school filing down the lawn, she called the team in to the locker rooms to get ready.

'Alright everyone, it's time. You all saw how Hufflepuff played against Gryffindor, and we're better than Gryffindor.' Jackie smiled. 'And it's going to be cold, so let's just win quickly so we can go back up to the castle sooner.'

'Just don't let your girlfriend score too often, James,' Diana teased. Jackie raised an eyebrow and James flushed and looked down, so Diana elaborated. 'A Chaser for Hufflepuff, Lily, and our boy James here have been dating for a little over a year now.'

Jackie grinned. 'You can apologise for blocking all her shots after the game.' They all laughed as Jackie led the way out of the locker room to fly out as Lee announced them.

'And here comes Ravenclaw! Captain and Beater Andrews, Beater Quirke, Chasers Maxwell, Jacobs and Calloway, Keeper Myers, and Seeker Hale! It's going to be a chilly one today, folks, so be sure you brought your warm cloaks!'

Jackie flew out to the center of the pitch to shake hands with the Hufflepuff captain, a burly boy whose hand engulfed her own.

The whistle blew and Jackie took off into the air. This time she decided to listen to the commentary for a bit.

'And it's Langdon with the Quaffle, she's making her way to the hoops, which coincidentally are being blocked by her boyfriend, let's see what happens here… And he's saved it! A spectacular save of a beautiful shot on goal and Myers has shown that he's not going to be the nice boyfriend today! Langdon doesn't look too put out, but I'd watch out if I were you, Myers.'

'Jordan,' Professor McGonagall's voice cut across. 'Are you going to comment on the match or just the personal lives of two of the players?'

'I'm just giving everyone some background information…'

Jackie laughed to herself and continued hitting Bludgers everywhere, careful to not hit the cracked side. She was busy enough that she didn't realise Edward was in the hunt for the Snitch until he streaked past her to snatch it.

'…and Ravenclaw's Seeker has caught the Snitch! The final score is 250-70 to Ravenclaw! Good match everyone and have a nice holiday!'

Jackie landed with her team and saw Josh fighting his way through the crowd.

'Good job,' he congratulated her, giving her a hug.

Jackie smiled and glanced behind him, where she saw Sasha. Josh followed Jackie's glance and grinned sheepishly.

'Did you ask her to the Yule Ball yet?'

He flushed, but didn't seem surprised that she knew – he knew Ari too well. 'No, not yet.'

'Do it now,' Jackie demanded, spinning him around and giving him a little push, and watched as he approached Sasha. Sasha's face lit up and she threw her arms around Josh. He hugged her back and Jackie gave him a thumbs-up and smile before turning back towards her locker room.

'Hey, Jackie!' Turning to the source of the voice, Jackie saw Derrick coming towards her.

'Great game!' he smiled before giving her a hug.

'Th-Thanks!' Jackie's teeth chattered. She was getting cold.

'Oh, I'm sorry, you must be freezing. I'll meet you back in the castle.' He gave her another quick hug and smile and let her go. Jackie changed quickly in the warmth of the locker room and made sure her cloak was fastened before walking back outside.

In the Entrance Hall, Derrick was waiting for her. Jackie heard a loud, high-pitched giggle and saw Alamexia Nott pulling Trent towards the dungeons as Stephen laughed at him.

'Hey, good job again.' Derrick smiled as he walked alongside Jackie, who was headed to the Great Hall for a late lunch as it was now one-thirty and she hadn't eaten since breakfast.

'Thanks.' Jackie grinned back before grabbing a sandwich from the table. Whenever there was a Quidditch game, there were plates of sandwiches left on the House tables so that everyone could eat. Jackie and Derrick chatted for a bit as they ate and Derrick walked her back up to Ravenclaw Tower.

'Hey,' he stopped at the base of the stairs. 'Do you have a moment?'

'No, I've actually got an urgent meeting with my other boyfriend.' Jackie rolled her eyes. 'Of course I do, what's on your mind?'

'Well, he began, looking more nervous than Jackie had ever seen him. 'These… I was wondering… I mean…' He sighed and took a breath. 'Will you go to the Yule Ball with me?'

Jackie smiled. 'Of course!' Derrick beamed and pulled her into a hug.

'So, what're you doing this afternoon?' Jackie asked.

'Oh, I actually need to go study. And I won't be able to meet with you for Hogsmeade next weekend, I'm sorry. I'll see you tomorrow, alright?' Before waiting for an answer, he gave her one last quick hug and walked away.

Jackie couldn't quite explain why she felt so down. Derrick had just asked her to the Yule Ball – she should be happy.

Shouldn't she?

The next day, Jackie saw that a notice had appeared in the common room while she was out on her run. The final Hogsmeade visit was the next weekend, but there was something else below that.

 _As this is the last trip before the Yule Ball, it is advised that everyone go even if only to purchase a mask. Gladrag's has ordered a large selection and is selling them for two Galleons and three Sickles apiece._

Ari couldn't wait. 'I just hope that whoever's going to ask me asks soon. I need to make sure that our dress robes and masks coordinate.'

'I like how you're assuming that someone's going to ask you,' Nathaniel interjected, smiling.

'Of course,' Ari continued, unfased. 'Why wouldn't someone ask me?'

Nathaniel just laughed and continued to get breakfast. Ari looked at Jackie, who shrugged and went to take a shower.

When Jackie went to grab a quick breakfast before it disappeared, she noticed that Nathaniel, David, and Alex were all still sitting at the Ravenclaw table, but Ari was nowhere to be seen. Curious, Jackie approached Alex.

'Where'd Ari go?'

Alex just smiled. 'I'm sure you'll find out soon.'

Sure enough, as soon as Jackie entered the dorm she heard Ari scream and was pulled into a massive hug.

'Are you okay?' Jackie asked once she could breathe again.

'You'll never guess who just asked me to the Yule Ball!' Ari let Jackie go, but didn't wait for a guess. 'Lucas Wood!'

Jackie smiled. 'That's great.'

'Isn't it?' Ari twirled around the room with a huge smile on her face.

Jackie looked at Ari speculatively. 'What about Derrick? Has Lucas replaced him in your affections?'

Ari shrugged. 'I guess I've liked Lucas since the train ride.'

Jackie rolled her eyes. Ari's affections seemed to be based on nothing more than the wind or weather. 'Congratulations.'

That Friday was the end of the term. In Transfiguration, the class still had to do some work for most of the double period. Professor McGonagall was nice enough to let them relax for the last fifteen minutes, a rare privilege that they all knew Professor Snape would have never given in his life.

In Arithmancy, Professor Vector greeted them all with a smile.

'Happy Last-Day-of-Term, class!' she beamed. 'I thought that we'd do some work today to get us in the spirit for the holiday.'

She tapped the board with her wand and problems appeared on the board, all Christmas themed. The class worked through them and finished early, so Professor Vector told them that they had the rest of the double period to do what they liked. The Hufflepuffs immediately asked if they could go back to their common room, but Professor Vector declined, saying that they needed to stay in the room. Their original plan denied, they gathered in a corner and talked together.

'So, what are you doing for Christmas?' Stephen asked Jackie and Trent.

'Well, there's this thing that's going to be held here called the Yule Ball, have you heard about it? I'm going to go to that,' Jackie answered him.

'That sounds like fun, what is it? Some sort of tradition?' Trent joined in.

'Oh, ha ha, you're both _so_ funny,' Stephen shot back at them.

Trent just smiled, so Jackie elaborated on her plans. 'Well, I'll be going to the Yule Ball, and other than that I plan to run every day and read a lot. What about you guys?'

'I'm planning on catching up on four months' sleep,' Stephen responded with a wistful smile.

'I don't know, I guess I'll just take each day as it comes.' Trent shrugged.

'Hey, what do you want for Christmas?' Stephen suddenly asked Jackie. 'I'll need to know by the Hogsmeade trip tomorrow so I can get you something. If you don't tell me, I'll just get you a box of Bertie Bott's Beans, and I'll take out all the good ones.'

Jackie laughed and hoped that would mask the blush on her cheeks at the unexpected question. 'As great as that sounds, I'll pass. You don't need to get me anything.'

'Yeah, we do,' Trent joined Stephen's side. 'It's what friends do.'

Jackie smiled, hoping her cheeks wouldn't flush again. 'Thanks. However, I don't care all that much. I don't like Bertie Bott's Beans, or fancy jewelry. Other than that, you'll probably be good. What do you want?'

'Eh, whatever,' Stephen shrugged. 'Just nothing embarrassing, like socks or knickers.'

'I don't want to see your knickers, Stephen,' Jackie assured him. 'You won't be getting any from me.'

'I, on the other hand…' Thankfully, the bell rang then and cut Trent off. They were all still laughing as they parted in the Entrance Hall.

The next day, Ari woke up before Jackie.

'Are you okay?' Jackie asked. This was rather unusual.

'Yeah, I'm just going through a few things.' The majority of her trunk had been emptied onto her bed and the floor surrounding.

'Whatever, I'll be back in a bit,' Jackie told her and left to run.

When she came back, the only change was that everyone else had left – Ari was still there, her trunk still emptied on and around her bed.

'What are you doing?' Jackie asked.

'I'm just organising my things so I know what I need to get today.'

'You don't need anything but a mask,' Jackie told her as she walked into the bathroom and shut the door, cutting off Ari's affronted, sputtering attempts at speech.

Once Jackie finished getting cleaned up and Ari discovered a method to her madness, they were off with Nathaniel to Hogsmeade. The town was decorated for Christmas and it was all very picturesque. There was snow on the ground and pixie lights dancing everywhere – it was the epitome of the Christmas season.

The trio decided to buy their masks and then split up to do some Christmas shopping before meeting with David and Alex in the Three Broomsticks at twelve-thirty, giving them two hours.

Gladrag's Wizardwear was the most crowded Jackie had ever seen a Hogsmeade store, excepting Zonko's Joke shop. The thing about wizard masks is they actually mask your face. They looked like Muggle masks, but it was a lot harder to tell who people were based on their mouth and the bottom of their nose. They also changed the wearer's voice slightly. As a result, Jackie couldn't tell who many of the people in the shop were because they were all trying on masks. Wizarding masquerades were a serious ordeal. You had to be careful what you said around others – they may not be who you think.

Jackie's dress robes were silver, so she looked around in the selection of silver masks. There were a few that were nice, but then Jackie saw it. It was a pure white mask with pearly while beads around the side edges with smaller, clearer beads along the top and bottom and a black swirl design next to the right eye. It was perfect so Jackie immediately went to purchase it.

Now that she had completed that section of her shopping, Jackie exited the shop to walk up High Street to find Christmas presents. She already had Nathaniel's new Beater's bat and her mum's picture album, but she wasn't sure what to get Ari, Alex, David, Stephen, Trent, or Derrick. She decided to start in Honeydukes and found something for everyone on her team, plus Alex, and Hannah. In the J.K.R. Book Store, Jackie found Ari a book on The Weird Sisters, her favourite band, and _Twelve Fail-Safe Ways to Charm Witches_ for Stephen – she figured that he'd get a kick out of that. Jackie's next stop was Zonko's for bags of pranks for Josh. With most of her list accounted for, she began to look for the hardest two. Nothing she saw in Zonko's or Honeydukes was quite right. Humming to herself, she walked along the store fronts looking for inspiration.

'Jackie!' someone called out, interrupting her song. The source of the interruption turned out to be Hannah.

'Hey, what's up?'

'Well, I just noticed that you were alone and thought you might want some company. Rebecca's over there, you can join us if you want,' Hannah offered.

Consulting her watch, Jackie had plenty of time and agreed. 'Sure, if you don't mind my need to find a few last Christmas presents.'

'Oh, it's no problem. We can help.' Hannah smiled as they walked back to where Rebecca was waiting.

'Hey Jackie,' Rebecca greeted her as they joined up and walked up the street.

'Hi Rebecca,' Jackie smiled back. 'Hey, I'm meeting up with Ari, Nathaniel, David and Alex in the Three Broomsticks at twelve-thirty; you guys want to join the party?' Jackie noticed that Hannah's face brightened at the mention of Nathaniel's name and a suspicion grew in her head.

'Sounds good to me,' Hannah agreed, trying to look nonchalant, and Rebecca nodded her consent. They chatted about the latest gossip in the school and continued window shopping.

'Hey, do either of them wear any sort of jewelry?' Rebecca asked, pausing at the window of Silver and Gold.

'Let's see,' Jackie shrugged and walked through the doors. Inside, there were tables everywhere filled with all sorts of jewelry. Jackie walked past the shiny, girly tables and saw inspiration. There was a table filled with gemstones where you pick the one you want and it's placed in a black cord to turn into a necklace, bracelet or anklet. Unfortunately, there weren't any rubies, so Jackie grabbed an emerald and continued looking for something for Derrick. She found another necklace with a dragon's claw on it and purchased them both.

By now, there were ten minutes until they were supposed to meet in the Three Broomsticks. They made their way to the opposite end of the street and were about to enter the pub when a snowball hit Jackie's back. Turning, she saw Nathaniel quickly duck behind a crate across the street. She handed her bags to Hannah to hold and made a snowball. She went to sneak up on him, but was stopped when two snowballs hit her side. Looking around, she saw her team all around her.

'Not fair!' she yelled, running for shelter behind a hill in between the Shrieking Shack and the street, muttering a quick spell as she went to make herself a fort to hide in. Once effectively hidden, she started making snowballs.

Edward was the first to walk by her hiding place. She nailed him in the back of the head. He whipped around and saw her with another snowball in hand. Raising his hands in surrender, he walked over to her.

'I'm here to join you.'

She eyed him for a moment, but decided that he was sincere. 'Do the others know?'

He shrugged. 'I'm not sure. I do know that they're hiding behind Honeydukes, waiting for you to make the first move.'

'Then I've got a plan…'

Ten minutes later, they were around at the front of the sweet shop and preparing for their attack. Snowballs in hand, they crept around the side that exposed the enemy's flank and began throwing snowballs like their lives depended on it, which, for all intents and purposes, they did. David and Nathaniel tried to resist, but Edward hit them both in the face. Jackie hit Rebecca, but before she could throw one at James he was attacked from the side. Everyone turned to see Lily there with another snowball in her hand and a wicked grin on her face.

'See you guys later,' James said before he took off to chase her.

Laughing and wet, Jackie and her team entered the Three Broomsticks to meet Hannah and Alex, who were waiting inside. Before they could sit down, Nathaniel pulled Jackie to the side.

'Hey, what do you think of me asking Hannah to the Yule Ball?' he asked.

Jackie glanced over to where Hannah was sitting and remembered her expression from earlier. 'I think she'd like that.' His face lit up and they went to join the others.

After a round of butterbeer to warm them all up, everyone set off together for the school.

The school and everyone in it relaxed once Monday came and classes did not meet. The younger students grudgingly left the school when they couldn't find any last minute dates. Derrick had asked if Jackie wouldn't mind postponing their weekly night together by one day, and she didn't, so at five on that Monday Jackie met Derrick and they went to the Room of Requirement.

'Did you get your mask?' Derrick asked before he started that night's movie. When Jackie nodded, he asked to see it.

'I… I actually kinda want it to be a surprise,' Jackie told him with a small smile.

'Oh, that's cool. Here's mine.' He brought out a scarlet mask lined in gold.

'You'll look great,' she told him with a smile.

The next day was clear, though still snowy. As Jackie, Stephen and Trent walked out the front doors, they saw that their path had been shoveled. Jackie smiled when she saw Hagrid walking back to his hut, shovel over his shoulder. The guys invited Jackie to fly with them for a bit in the afternoon and she accepted, so that afternoon she left the warmth of the common room with her broom and bat. They flew around the pitch a few times, and then played a pickup game of Quidditch – Stephen v. Trent with Jackie hitting a Bludger at them both.

They played for thirty minutes and Stephen was ahead four to two. They were jousting for the Quaffle when Jackie went to hit the Bludger and the air rang with a crack. Trent and Stephen stopped mid-joust and the Quaffle dropped, forgotten, as they both flew over to her side. Jackie just hovered in place, looking at her splintered and now useless bat.

'Are you okay?' Trent asked, concerned.

'Yeah, I'm fine.'

'Can you fix it?' Stephen asked, looking at her bat.

Jackie sighed. 'No. I could try, but it wouldn't be nearly as good. It probably wouldn't even last a whole game.'

In this time, they had forgotten about the loose Bludger until it came back and almost knocked Stephen off his broom. Jackie caught it and flew to put it away as Stephen grabbed the Quaffle.

They walked back up to the castle and Trent squeezed Jackie's shoulder before they parted to get dry and warm. When Jackie walked into her common room, Ari was there waiting.

'There you are, where–'

'What happened?' Nathaniel cut across Ari, looking forlornly at her bat.

'I was out flying with Stephen and Trent when I hit one too many Bludgers,' she told him.

'Is there anything we can do?' The rest of her team had come over to offer their sympathies.

'No, it's okay. I'll order a new one after Christmas. At least it happened over break, right?' Jackie smiled, releasing some of the tension. She went up to her dorm to put away her broom. She paused, uncertain of what to do with her bat. It was now useless, but she couldn't just get rid of it – that would be like throwing away her arm, she had had it for so long. She put it in a side pocket of her trunk and got changed into sweats and grabbed her book before going back to the common room to sit by the fire before dinner.

'How are you almost done with that book?' Nathaniel asked, incredulous.

Jackie laughed. 'I told you, it's only a thousand pages.'

He just shook his head and went back to the magazine he was looking at. She saw that it was Quality Quidditch Supply's catalog and hoped that he wasn't ordering himself a replacement bat, as that was her Christmas present for him.

Dinner on Tuesday, the twenty-third, was a rather laid-back affair. Professor Dumbledore stood up at the front of the Hall before the food was served.

'Welcome to those of you old enough to attend the Yule Ball, as well as those who are younger and have a date. We have left the tables as they are because there are so many people, but do not feel the need to sit by house! Move about, mingle, perhaps find a last minute date.' With that he bowed and the golden platters filled. There was movement all across the hall, but Jackie didn't expect anyone to come over by her. Derrick had his friends in Gryffindor, plus she didn't think he really liked her Ravenclaw friends, and Trent shouldn't leave Alamexia so Stephen wouldn't leave Trent. Lucas Wood came over to sit by Ari and they all talked happily through the dinner and dessert.

The next day, Jackie went to the Room of Requirement to wrap presents. Once they were all done, she sent Anastasia home with her mum's present, but she wasn't sure how to get the rest distributed, or how to call a house-elf to help her.

'Dotty?' she asked into the empty air. A crack and Dotty was standing there. That was easier than Jackie had anticipated.

'Miss Jackie is needing Dotty's help?' The elf bowed low.

'Is there a way to distribute these presents tomorrow morning?' Jackie asked.

Dotty nodded. 'Yes, Dotty can be taking these to Miss Jackie's friends for her.'

'Thanks so much.' Jackie smiled as Dotty took the bag of gifts and bowed again before disappearing. Jackie sat down on the couch and read for a while more before she was interrupted.

'Oh, sor– hey,' Trent greeted her as he entered the room. 'What's up?'

Jackie smiled. 'Nothing really, I'm just reading.'

'That's what I came here to do. Do you mind?'

'Not at all, pull up a couch,' Jackie smiled.

They both relaxed in the Room until Jackie's watch beeped, signaling that it was five o'clock. However, the beep was more of a chirp, and the chirping didn't stop.

'What the bloody hell is that?' Trent asked as Jackie's watch just kept going. Eventually, Jackie took it off and stomped on it to get it to shut up.

'Well, that used to be my watch,' Jackie said, holding up the crushed remains of her watch. The face was cracked, the hands were bent out and there were springs coming out of the front. 'I guess I'll need to get a new one next time we go to Hogsmeade.'

Trent laughed. 'Unless you want to still use that one.'

Jackie rolled her eyes at him as sat back down to continue reading. At five-thirty, Trent stood up.

'You ready to go get some dinner?'

'Yeah, just a second,' Jackie said distractedly; she only had a page left in the book. Once she finished, she sighed. 'Now I can't wait for the next one, and I won't be able to get it till Easter. And now I don't have a book until then either.'

'Maybe you'll get one tomorrow,' Trent offered as they made their way to the Great Hall. 'Your mum knows how fast you read, right?'

Jackie nodded. 'Yeah, hopefully she'll send me the next one.'

'Are you going to run tomorrow?' Trent asked right before they entered the Entrance Hall.

'Nah, I think I'll take a day off.'

'Only the one?' Trent smiled, but they had to part right before they entered the Entrance Hall so that Trent could go to Alamexia. Jackie met with Nathaniel and they entered the Great Hall, which had been decorated for the Ball the next night. Dinner that night was a larger affair; it was Christmas Eve after all. As Jackie walked into the hall, she felt extremely underdressed in her sweats. At her side, she noticed that Nathaniel was having a similar reaction.

'A very Happy Christmas Eve to you all!' Professor Dumbledore addressed them all. 'Tuck in!'

Dinner took longer than usual, and then most everyone remained in the hall to talk for even longer than that. Jackie and Nathaniel were the first ones back in the common room around nine-thirty.

'How's that super long book coming?' he asked.

'I finished it,' she told him, taking it and her broken watch out of her bag.

'What the bloody hell happened to your watch?' he asked, taking it in his hands and examining it. 'It's dead.'

'Yeah, well I had to kill it. It was dying a slow and rather painful death,' she informed him as she took it back. 'I'll just toss it, I guess.' Into the rubbish bin it went.

'Well,' Nathaniel yawned, 'good night, sleep well.' He gave Jackie a quick hug and went down the stairs to his room. Jackie made her way up the stairs and sat on her bed for a moment, wishing that Anastasia was there so she'd have a bit of company. As though in answer to her wish, Anastasia flew through her window. She shook off the snow that had fallen on her and let Jackie stoke her head before flying off to rest in the owlry. Jackie, smiling, fell asleep before any of the others came back from the Great Hall.


	9. Nine: Knight in Shining Armour

'Happy Christmas!' Alex's cheer woke Jackie up the next morning. She opened her eyes and saw that there was a pile of presents at the foot of her bed. She started with the one on top – from her mum. She tore off the paper and threw it at Ari to wake her up.

'What do you wan– ooh, presents!' Ari woke up

Jackie's present from her mum turned out to be a large box of cookies, as well as the sequel to the book she'd just finished. She took one cookie and popped it in her mouth before turning back to her mound of gifts. From Josh, Jackie opened a box with silver letters stamped across the top – _Broomstick Servicing Kit_.

'Wow, thanks Josh,' Jackie grinned, opening the box to see what was inside. There was a _Handbook of Do-It-Yourself Broom Care_ , a tin of Fleetwood's High-Finish handle polish, and silver Tail-Twig Clippers.

She set it aside and continued opening. Alex and Hannah had gotten her a poster of Luke Kendry, 'only the hottest man alive,' Hannah sighed as Jackie hung it up. From Nathaniel, Jackie got a bag of candy and a book called _Ender's Game_. Jackie had never heard of it, so she decided to ask him about it later. From Derrick, Jackie opened a necklace. It was ornate and fancy and altogether too shiny. She appreciated it, but didn't plan on wearing it very often. Stephen had gotten her a box of Bertie Bott's beans ('Just for you') and a new running watch.

By now there were only three presents left on her bed. She recognised David's handwriting and reached for that one. As soon as she picked it up she knew what it was, so she read the card first.

'Happy Christmas, Captain!' And below the names of everyone on her team were signed. Jackie took the paper off of her new Beater's bat and admired it. It was exactly the one she had been admiring in Quality Quidditch Supplies.

Of the two presents left, one didn't have a card on the outside so Jackie grabbed the one from Ari. The paper fell away to reveal a photo album. Jackie smiled as she turned through the pages and saw pictures of herself and Ari through the years, of Jackie and Nathaniel, of the three of them together (often with a story accompanying), of her teams through the years, and of the five dorm-mates through the years. The newest pictures showed Jackie with Stephen and Trent. Jackie appreciated that Ari, even though she may not understand, at least supported Jackie and her friendships. At the back of the book, there were blank pages, 'For more memories,' Ari's note told her.

'You like it?' Ari asked, coming over to sit next to Jackie.

'Yeah, I do,' Jackie responded, giving Ari a hug. 'Thanks.'

Ari hugged Jackie back. 'And thank you for my book.'

Jackie grinned and Ari went back to her bed. Jackie threw all the excess wrapping paper onto Ari's bed and grabbed the last present. Inside was a book and box. The box contained a beautiful necklace – it was a clear, crystalline jewel with an emerald heart embedded in the middle.

'Wow, Jackie, who gave you that?' Rebecca called over in awe.

'I'm not sure,' Jackie responded, still admiring it. She picked up the book, _Pride and Prejudice_. It wasn't new, so she looked at the inside cover where there was a note taped.

 _Jackie,  
This is a Muggle book, so hopefully you haven't read it yet. I hope you like it.  
Happy Christmas._  
 _Trent Black_

Jackie smiled and put the book with her pile. She got changed into sweats to get breakfast and put her necklace from Trent on. The five friends descended the stairs and exited the common room to find that there were people waiting for them. Lucas was there for Ari, Nathaniel for Hannah, David for Alex and Rebecca's date for her. Lucas gave Jackie an apologetic smile and shrug, apologising for Derrick not being there. Jackie just shrugged and walked down the spiral staircase before the couples.

As she got closer to the Entrance Hall, the sounds of the couples got farther away as they were walking slower. Thinking she was alone, Jackie sighed.

'Was that in exasperation or just happiness at the obvious thoughtfulness of your present from me?' a voice asked from behind her. Surprised, Jackie turned quickly, her pony tail whipping around and hitting her cheek. Stephen stood there, ready to laugh.

'Exasperation at being followed,' she told him, turning and pretending to walk away in a huff. Stephen caught up with her and they both laughed.

'So where's What's-His-Face?' Stephen asked as they walked together.

'Derrick? He probably had something to do.' Even to her own ears Jackie's response sounded lame, but thankfully Stephen didn't push.

When they got to the Entrance Hall, Derrick came over to meet Jackie. Ignoring Stephen, he addressed her.

'Hey,' he took her arm and walked her away from Stephen, she barely managed to turn and wave before they entered the Great Hall.

'So, I was thinking that we could meet down here around five. Sound good?' Derrick proposed over his plate of kippers and fruit.

'Yeah, that should work,' Jackie agreed. They sat and talked for a little while more until Ari came over to them.

'We need to go,' she insisted, stealing Jackie's bacon and walking out the doors. Jackie rolled her eyes and grabbed more bacon before following Ari to Ravenclaw Tower.

The roommates' manicures and pedicures took up the entire morning and a bit of the afternoon before they were done. Then the frenzy began.

'Does anyone know where my other shoe is?'

'What was that charm to get wrinkles out again?'

'My hair won't cooperate!'

Jackie was the first to the bathroom to do her makeup and hair. She pulled her hair up into a half-ponytail and curled what went up, straightening what was left down. Satisfied, she left the room to let in Rebecca, who was in a state of panic over her hair.

Jackie put on her dress robes and shoes, which were silver as well. She took the necklace that Derrick had given her and put it on for what would most likely be the only time. She went to look in Ari's full length mirror and added the final touch – her mask – which perfected the entire outfit.

'Wow, Jackie, you look really good.' Alex appeared in the reflection in her robes of sapphire.

'Thanks, Alex, you do too.' Jackie's mask made her voice a tone lower than usual.

'Alright ladies,' Ari called them together. 'Time to go.'

As it was in the morning, some of the girls' dates awaited them outside the common room. Jackie continued past them to the Entrance Hall. The doors to the Great Hall hadn't opened yet, so people were gathered in the Entrance Hall and meeting their friends.

Jackie walked down the marble staircase and saw Derrick in his mask waiting for her. He looked handsome in his robes of scarlet. She started towards him, but stopped short at the sight that unfolded.

'Derrick, darling!' Another girl appeared next to Derrick and wrapped her arm in his. Jackie recognised the long blonde hair that belonged to Acantha Malfoy.

'There you are.' He beamed down at her. Jackie watched as he leaned down to kiss Acantha. He hadn't even tried to kiss Jackie yet.

'Derrick?' she called quietly, hoping it was a mistake.

It wasn't. He turned and saw her standing there, and she could tell that he knew it was her.

'Jackie, it's not what you think–' he started, striding over to her.

'Really?' Jackie's temper flared as he approached. 'Well then, by all means, tell me what it is. I know what I saw.'

He didn't even have the decency to look ashamed. 'Jackie, I thought she was you.'

'Don't pull that with me,' Jackie threatened, wishing she had her wand with her. 'Is that where you've really been all those times you blew me off to "study"? Snogging _her_?'

'No, Jackie, I want to be with you,' he insisted, grabbing her hand and pulling her into a kiss. He was rough, and Jackie could taste a hint of Firewhiskey on his breath already. It was all wrong, and an angry pulse of magic got him off of her.

'Don't touch me,' she almost growled, turning away.

'No, Jackie, please.' He grabbed her wrist again and Jackie turned, ready to hit him, when a cold voice cut through.

'Let her go.'

Standing next to them was a boy in striking black dress robes with a blue undershirt and a blue mask on. The mask had a single teardrop below the left eye, and Jackie thought it was beautiful.

'Who are you?' Derrick asked, peering at the newcomer suspiciously.

'No one of consequence. I suggest you let her go now,' he said in that same cold, threatening voice, holding his wand out. Derrick apparently decided Jackie wasn't worth the trouble and walked back to Acantha, not even sparing Jackie a backward glance.

'Thank you so much,' Jackie thanked him before sighing. 'There goes my night.'

'Why though?' he asked, tilting his head slightly to the side. 'May I have the pleasure of your company tonight?'

Jackie smiled, pleased to have an excuse to still wear her new robes and mask. 'Certainly.' She curtsied. 'May I ask who you are?'

'I am merely a White Knight whose goal is to save damsels in distress. I have already succeeded, and so plan to enjoy the rest of my evening. Who might you be?'

Jackie grinned and played along. 'I am merely a poor maiden, rescued by her White Knight from what was turning into a terrible evening.'

'Pleased to be of service.' He bowed with a smile, causing Jackie to giggle. 'Shall we?' He offered her his arm and she took it as he led her into the Great Hall.

Jackie felt her eyes widen at the splendour of the room. The ceiling was snowing from a starry sky and there were circular tables set up all around. Ice sculptures and decorated trees lined the walls. The lighting of the room had a blue tint to it, and it seemed as though even the candles were emitting a blue glow. Her new date led her to a table and she sat down, taking off Derrick's necklace as she sat. Another person sat down next to her and Jackie recognised Ari's mask.

'Hey Jackie – you are Jackie, right?'

'Yeah,' Jackie affirmed. Her knight didn't seem to hear, though. He scanned the hall quickly before turning back to the table. Jackie glanced around too and saw Alamexia Nott's platinum blonde hair on the arm of a boy with a black mask. She watched them sit across the room, sad that she wouldn't get to say hi to Stephen or Trent.

Everyone was able to tell who Professor Dumbledore was because of his beard, so when he stood up at the front of the hall silence fell.

'The happiest of Christmas wishes to each of you,' he beamed through the mask. 'I hope that your day has been most excellent, and that your night will be even better. We will eat now and then have some music and dancing after we are all full. Bon appétit!'

'Where's Derrick?' Ari asked Jackie, taking a bite of her salad.

'He decided that Acantha Malfoy would be a better date,' Jackie responded stiffly.

'And who is your new man?' Ari asked, glancing around Jackie.

'He's my White Knight,' Jackie responded, grinning.

'But he's in black…'

'Black are my robes, but White is my heart,' he told Ari with a smile. Ari raised her eyebrows and gave Jackie an appreciative smile and thumbs-up and continued eating.

Once dinner was over, Professor Dumbledore stood up, indicating for everyone else to do the same. With a wave of his wand, the tables and chairs clustered around the dance floor and another wave set up the stage for the band.

Her date held out a hand. 'May I have this dance, mademoiselle?'

'Certainly, monsieur.' Jackie took his hand and followed as he led her to the dance floor. The first song was a fast one, which worried Jackie at first, but she soon settled into a rhythm with her partner. They danced their way through four songs before it got too hot for comfort. Her date seemed to feel the same way, he gestured to the doors that led to the courtyard. The teachers had cleared off a space with benches and placed a warming spell so it wasn't too cold, though the snow didn't melt either. There were fairy lights twinkling and Jackie spun in a happy circle.

Her date watched with a small smile and sat down on a bench, beckoning her over. Jackie sat down next to him and sighed.

'It's beautiful out here.' As she said it, she gave an involuntary shiver – it was still a little cold for her lightweight dress robes.

'It is. Are you cold?' he asked.

'No,' Jackie lied stubbornly. He saw through it though, placing his arm around her shoulders and rubbing her arm. She had to admit – it did help.

'So, what is a beautiful lady like yourself doing on a night like this without a date?' he asked as the sounds of the band drifted out to where they were sitting.

'Well, I did have one, but that turned out to be a bust,' Jackie sighed. 'What about you? How come there's no girl hanging on your arm?'

'Well, there is now,' he responded with a smirk.

Before they could continue, Derrick walked out with Acantha, obviously looking for a secluded bush to snog in. He was staggering, he'd had more to drink. Jackie stiffened and pointedly looked away. Her Knight followed her glare and realised why Jackie had turned.

'Shall I jinx him from here?'

Jackie smiled. 'Thanks, but I think I'll let him have this night. He'll regret it later – look at how drunk he is.'

He sighed. 'If you insist, my maiden. What would you like to do now?'

Jackie shrugged. 'It doesn't really matter to me – I can't dance. What do you want to do?'

'Teach you to dance,' he decided, grabbing her hand and leading her back into the Great Hall. A slow song was starting up, so they found a corner of the dance floor to themselves.

'Okay, you start like this,' he told her, guiding her hands to their positions – left hand holding his and right holding the skirt of her robes. 'It's easier for you because the man is supposed to lead. Now,' he started, placing his other hand on the small of her back, 'we begin.'

They danced in their corner for four more songs, two of which were fast ones, with him leading her around and her trying not to step on his feet. They made it through without too big an incident – Jackie only stepped on his feet a few times. After this dancing lesson, Jackie led the way back outside. This time they saw a path that had been cleared off and decided to take it. As they wandered down the path, her Knight suddenly reached over and took her hand. They continued to the end of the cleared path and sat down on the bench there. He put his arm around her shoulders again and they sat and talked for a little while – mostly about trivial things like classes and houses. The music could be heard out where they were, and her Knight continued the dancing lesson in the privacy of their little spot. As the evening got later, they started back to the hall, but just before they went inside, he stopped and pulled her aside.

'I am sorry, my maiden, but it is getting late and there are some people within who will be very angry at me if I do not spend time with them this evening. I'm afraid we must part here.'

'Oh, alright,' Jackie sighed. The disappointment must have been transparent in her voice, for he held her chin to force her to look into his eyes, Jackie realised that they were a beautiful grey and somehow familiar, and continued.

'Don't worry, mademoiselle, we can find each other again at the end of the night.' He kissed her hand and led her inside before disappearing into the crowds. Jackie gave a little sigh and went to find where Ari or Nathaniel had run off to.

Jackie spent the rest of the Ball with Ari, Lucas, Nathaniel and Hannah. They were all very friendly to her, but Jackie couldn't help but feel like a fifth-wheel.

The clock struck midnight as Professor Burbage called for everyone's attention from the front of the stage.

'Now everyone, it's time for the big reveal! It's time to find out who you have really been spending the night with.' Jackie began scanning the hall for Him. 'Take off your masks!'

Jackie found where the blue tear-dropped face was and took off her mask. When she looked back to where the one she had spent so much of the night with, the one who had been her White Knight, she felt her breath catch in her throat.

Trent Black stood there, looking in her direction.

She had thought those grey eyes seemed familiar, but she never imagined that they could belong to him. They locked eyes, and Jackie couldn't help it. She fled.

In the Entrance Hall she found an empty antechamber and hid, leaning back against the door. She could hear the sounds of people in the Great Hall realising who their partners were. She didn't know which she agreed with. There were sounds of delight, and sounds of anguish. Some sounded surprised, while others sounded angry. Jackie couldn't tell how she felt.

She and Derrick had broken up. She was saved by Trent. She and Trent had been together for the vast majority of the night, and Alamexia hadn't been there, hadn't been mentioned.

What did it all mean?

Before she had an answer, the door handle clicked behind her and the door stared to open. Cursing that she had forgotten to lock it, she fell backward into the person opening the door. Luckily, they caught her. Unluckily, it was Trent.

'Sorry,' she apologised, flushing and trying not to look into his eyes.

'No, I'm the one who should be sorry. I realise that you may not want to talk to me right now, but hear me out.' He took a hold of her hand and lifted her chin so she had to look him in the eyes. His beautiful, stormy grey eyes. 'I'm sorry if I'm not the one you wanted to be under that mask, or the one to save you, but I can't help it. I'm a Slytherin. I'm sorry if you don't want this right now, but I have a question for you – if you'll allow me to ask it.'

Jackie's heart fell. He probably wanted to make sure that she'd keep quiet, but she nodded for him to continue.

'Will you go on a date with me?'

Jackie was taken aback by the question. 'What?'

Trent laughed. 'You're wounding my pride. I asked if you would like to go on a date with me.'

'Er, sure.' It sounded more like a question than an answer.

Trent smiled. 'Thanks. I'll meet you in the Entrance Hall at four tomorrow.'

'Sounds good,' Jackie agreed, hardly hearing herself.

Trent let go of her hand and looked Jackie up and down. 'You know, you really look stunning tonight.' And with that he kissed her cheek and gave her one last smile before turning to go to the Slytherin common room.

Jackie, suddenly weak at the knees, leaned against the doorframe. Her cheek was warm where Trent had kissed it.

'Jackie, there you are!' Ari's call cut through Jackie's thoughts, bringing her back to reality. 'Let's go, I'm tired.'

Jackie nodded and let Ari lead her up to Ravenclaw Tower in a daze. Ari was talking about her night with Lucas, but Jackie wasn't listening.

She was wishing she was in the Slytherin common room.


	10. Ten: Walking Fine Lines

When Jackie woke up the next morning, she didn't get out of bed right away. _It was all a dream_ , she told herself. _I just dreamed that yesterday was the Yule Ball. Any second now, I'll get up and see the presents at the foot of my bed…_

But when she got up, there were no presents on her bed.

She got ready for her run mechanically, her mind churning over the events of the previous night. _I spent the majority of the Ball with Trent. He asked me out. What about Alamexia? What does this mean? Does Stephen know? What the bloody hell am I going to do about Derrick?_

These thoughts were spinning in answerless circles as she walked down to meet the Slytherins in the Entrance Hall. She wondered if Trent was going to be there – what should she say to him? She was still debating this when she walked into the Entrance Hall and only saw Stephen.

'Nice watch,' he greeted her with a smile. Jackie looked down and realised that she had put on the new one he gave her.

'Thanks,' she smiled back. 'You know, Ari really enjoyed those beans.'

'You gave away my present to you?' he scoffed in mock offense. Jackie just rolled her eyes. 'Yeah, I figured as much. Thanks for the book – but it's not needed.'

'Yeah, sure.' Jackie laughed at him.

'Alright, maybe I've already started reading it,' he confessed with a smile.

'So where's Trent?' Jackie asked in what she hoped was a nonchalant way.

'He's out like a rock.' Stephen shrugged to excuse his friend. 'Shall we?'

Jackie gestured for him to lead the way and followed him around the lake.

'How was your night last night?' Jackie asked.

Stephen shrugged. 'Not too bad. Luckily Alamexia wasn't too annoying when she found out that it wasn't Trent that she had been with. It had been one of our roommates, but I still tried to make myself scarce.'

'Understandable.'

'How about you?' he asked back. 'How was your night?'

Jackie gave a noncommittal grunt. 'It was pretty good. Derrick was drunk before the ball even started, so I dumped him. I doubt he even remembers anything that happened last night.'

Stephen nodded. 'Probably not. But how was your time with Trent?'

'How did you know?' Jackie was offended that she seemed to be the only one that had been left in the dark.

'He asked me to set up Alamexia with someone else so that he would be able to get away for a while – so I assumed that he wanted to spend the night with you,' Stephen explained with the air of telling a person something they should already know.

'Why would you assume that?' Jackie asked, growing more curious about what else she had missed in her life as the conversation continued.

'He's fancied you since the beginning of this year, when you almost ran him over in Potions.'

Jackie flushed at the memory. 'Really?'

Stephen laughed. 'Really. You mean you honestly didn't notice or suspect anything?'

Jackie shook her head. 'I didn't. However, I could tell that you lied to me earlier. He's awake. Why didn't he come this morning? Was he afraid to see me?'

'No, no, nothing like that,' Stephen backpedalled immediately. 'He just wanted to give you some time on your own to see if you did still want to see him later today.'

'I said I did, didn't I?' Jackie said, though her voice didn't sound quite right to herself. Stephen didn't seem to notice, though, and they finished their run talking about harmless things like Quidditch and classes. They parted in the Entrance Hall with a smile and wave.

Jackie spent the morning finishing her homework in the common room. Once she was done, she snapped her book shut and the sound made Nathaniel look up from the floor where he was building an elaborate house of Exploding Snap cards.

'Tired of it?' he asked.

'No, I'm done,' she told him, gathering her papers together. Nathaniel's mouth dropped open. 'You shouldn't do that,' Jackie suggested. 'You'll catch flies.'

'How the bloody hell are you done?' he asked her incredulously.

'I actually work on it instead of starting and moving on to card games,' she informed him. When she stood up, the house exploded and Jackie danced out of the range of the blast. She looked back to see Nathaniel still on the floor with the surprised look still on his face.

Jackie went to her dorm to drop off her books and grabbed _Ender's Game_ , the book Nathaniel had given her for Christmas. When she got back to the common room, he was cleaning up the scattered pieces of his house.

'So, what's this book about?' Jackie asked him, examining the cover of the book.

'Oh, that's one of my favourites.' Nathaniel grinned; pitching the exploded cards he was holding and walking over to her. 'It's about this American kid in the future – basically, Earth is being threatened by these aliens and Ender, the kid, goes up into space to this Battle School where they train him to fight the aliens.'

Jackie nodded. 'Sounds cool.' She sat down in her favourite armchair to read it. She made it through the first few chapters before she realised that it was three-thirty and she had to get ready. She was again at a loss of what to wear – when she finally decided on a nice shirt and jeans, she had ten minutes before she had to meet Trent.

'Where are you going?' Ari asked as she walked through the common room.

'I'm not sure,' Jackie answered cryptically, yet truthfully, as she exited the room.

At four o'clock on the dot, Jackie entered the Entrance Hall and saw Trent waiting for her. Grinning nervously, she walked over to him. When he saw her, his face broke into a huge smile. 'Hey,' he greeted her. 'You ready?'

'What do I need to be ready for?' Jackie asked as he led the way to the Room of Requirement.

'You'll see,' he smiled shrewdly, opening the door that had appeared there.

When they walked in, there was the same 'Teevee' box as there had been on her dates with Derrick, but the surroundings were different. It looked like they were outside in part of the room and there was a picnic bench next to a big black grill.

'What?' Jackie asked, looking at the grill. She had seen Ari's dad grilling when she went to their house in her first year, but she hadn't known anyone else to make their food in that fashion.

'I'm going to make you dinner.' Trent had the giddy look of a child on his face as he lit the grill. Jackie wondered suddenly if the room was fireproof.

'You do know how to work that, right?' she asked, looking at it warily.

'Yeah, I'll be fine. I learned from Stephen's parents – they're into Muggle things. My dad would pop a blood vessel if he saw me doing this.' He clapped his hands. 'So, how do you like your hamburgers?'

'Cooked?' Jackie guessed, smiling at the way he got animated as he talked about this.

Trent laughed. 'Okay, one cooked burger, coming right up. Do you want it to be pink at all in the middle?'

Jackie shrugged. 'How do you like yours done?'

'I like mine well done, no pink at all. There're five stages – well done, medium well, medium, medium rare and rare. They get more pink as you go more rare,' he explained.

'Er, I guess I'll have mine like you have yours,' Jackie said. All of his explanation had gone right over her head.

'You got it.' He smiled before turning to the meat and getting it ready.

'So where are we?' Jackie asked, looking around.

'We're in Stephen's backyard, minus the house and lake. It's the first place that comes to mind when I think of grilling,' he told her, putting the meat on the grill. 'Do you want cheese on your burger?'

'Er, no thanks. Why are we having burgers?'

Trent laughed. 'I know, it's a very American thing for a British wizard to do, but it's what I learned to do. I did try to do a steak once, but that didn't turn out so well…' he trailed off. 'Let's just say that it's a good thing that the Flints have a lake in their backyard, especially since none of us had our wands at the time. We didn't think that we'd need them…' Jackie couldn't help but laugh at the picture that his story formed in her mind.

Trent joined in. 'Yeah, I leave the steaks for Mr Flint. I'm pretty good at these burgers, though,' he commented, flipping a burger into the air and catching it on his spatula before placing it back on the grill.

'Show off.' Jackie laughed at him but he just shrugged, unapologetic.

They chatted while he continued to work the grill and Jackie couldn't help but compare it to her dates with Derrick. She was much more comfortable and there was a lot more laughing with Trent. With a flourish, he presented her with her plate and gestured to the couch by the 'Teevee.' She walked over and sat down as he put out the fire in the grill and joined her.

'What are we going to watch?' Jackie asked, getting ready to take a bite out of her burger.

'I was thinking maybe something like 'The Hunt for Red October' or 'Die Hard.' Either of those sound good?'

Jackie shrugged through her bite of hamburger and swallowed quickly to answer him. 'I don't know – I just started watching movies at the beginning of this year.'

'You didn't watch TV when you were younger?' he asked, surprised.

'You did?' Jackie retorted, even more surprised.

Trent nodded and swallowed his bite. 'Yeah, when I was younger I had a few Muggle friends. I would have to sneak out to see them, my dad wasn't too happy about it, and I watched TV with them. Even when he banned me from seeing those friends, I would go home over the holidays and go see them first, before going home, so my dad didn't know that I was still seeing them.'

'Ah. So what are those movies about? Or do you want to just pick one and we can watch the other one later?'

Trent thought a moment, then a video appeared on the counter next to the TV. 'We'll start with this one – "Die Hard". It's an action movie.'

Jackie nodded and held his plate while he got the movie set up. When he sat back down, he sat closer to her and once he finished his meal he put his arm around her shoulders. Jackie enjoyed the movie, and when Trent had to explain a joke or reference she didn't understand, he explained it so well that she laughed and felt like she knew it all along.

When the movie was over, Trent took her hand and walked her back to the base of the stairs to Ravenclaw Tower. 'So, do we keep this discreet or let it all out?'

'Well, I assumed that you would want to keep it discreet because of Alamexia…' Jackie thought out loud.

Trent nodded. 'Yeah, that may be the smartest plan. Then, I shall say good night here. Same time Sunday?'

Jackie nodded. 'It's a date.' Trent smiled back and kissed her hand before letting her go up the stairs.

When she entered the common room, Ari wasn't waiting for her, so Jackie sat down next to Nathaniel.

'Where were you?' he asked.

'Eating dinner,' Jackie responded truthfully. She could see that he was curious, but was thankful that he didn't pry. She still needed to think up a story to tell Ari.

Ari still didn't appear when Jackie was getting tired, so she went up to her dorm to get ready for bed.

'There you are,' Ai sounded exasperated. 'I was wondering when you'd come back.'

'I was wondering when you'd come looking for me – I've been in the common room,' Jackie smiled.

'Really?' Ari was surprised. 'Huh. Well, where were you?'

'I was eating dinner, and then I took a walk and was talking with Stephen,' Jackie recited the story she had come up with.

Luckily, Ari was appeased. 'Alright, I guess that's acceptable.'

The next day, Derrick came up to Jackie in the Entrance Hall as she was going to the Great Hall for breakfast. He looked like he was still hung-over from the Ball. 'Hey, Jackie. How are you, babe?' And without waiting for an answer, he continued. 'Hey, I'm sorry if I acted like an idiot at the Yule Ball; I don't remember any of it. Did we have a good night?'

Jackie walked past him, her voice cold. 'I dumped you. There is no "we" anymore. Shouldn't you be off somewhere "studying" with Acantha Malfoy?'

He looked surprised. 'How did you find… er, I mean… I don't know what you're talking about,' he tried to cover up lamely.

Jackie turned, her eyes blazing. 'I saw you greet her with a kiss before you even noticed that I was in the room. You then proceeded to choose her over me. Now go away, Derrick, go to your other girlfriend, because I don't want to have anything to do with you anymore.' She turned away from him and sat down at the Ravenclaw table in a huff. Angrily, she saw that Derrick was walking over to where she was sitting.

'Jackie, I–'

'I don't care what you have to say to me anymore,' Jackie told him, pulling out her wand. 'And if you don't leave me alone, I will curse you into oblivion.'

Luckily for him, he seemed to be sober enough to realise that she wasn't kidding and left. Ari and Nathaniel were exchanging looks around Jackie's fuming head, so she grabbed a plate of bacon and toast and went back up to Ravenclaw Tower.

They both entered the common room right after she did and sat on the floor next to her.

'Are you okay?' Ari asked softly.

'Yeah, I'll be fine.' As she said it, she felt a few tears escape. Nathaniel put his arm around her. They sat there quietly for a little while longer before Jackie was feeling better, Ari holding her hands and Nathaniel holding her.

'I'm good now,' she said, standing up. 'Thanks.'

'No problem,' Nathaniel gave her shoulder a squeeze and let his arm drop.

'It's nothing for a friend,' Ari gave Jackie a hug and they both let her go up to her dorm alone.

As she lay on her bed, a grey owl flew in through the window. 'What are you here for?' she asked him, stroking his feathers and taking the note attached to his leg.

 _I heard about what happened, I'm sorry I wasn't up there sooner. Are you okay?  
Trent  
P.S. This is my owl, Winston._

Jackie smiled. 'Hello, Winston,' she greeted the owl as she took out her quill to respond.

 _Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks.  
Jackie_

She sent Winston back and took out _Ender's Game_ to read the rest of the day.

Jackie spent the rest of the Christmas holiday reading, hanging with her friends, including Trent, and laughing at Nathaniel as he scrambled to catch up on homework.

'If you would have just concentrated before, you could have avoided all this trouble,' Jackie observed from her seat near the fire while he worked at a table.

'I had more important things to do,' he retorted.

'Like building houses that explode at a moment's notice?'

'Exactly.'


	11. Eleven: Broken

The new term started like any other, except for the minor detail that Jackie now had a secret boyfriend. Ari had given up asking where Jackie went every Sunday evening, Jackie wouldn't tell. She just said that it was an Arithmancy thing.

As January turned into February, the Slytherin v. Gryffindor Quidditch match drew closer. It was always a highly anticipated match – Gryffindor and Slytherin had been rivals since the school was founded – but this time, Jackie saw another meaning behind it.

Trent versus Derrick.

She was fairly certain that Trent saw it that way as well. He was getting more and more tired on their Sunday evenings, though he tried not to show it. When she asked him about it one time, he had only said that Quidditch practices were getting longer because the match was coming up, but Jackie thought that he was training harder so that they could win the match.

February fourteenth, St. Valentine's Day and the day of the highest-tension-filled match of the year, dawned with clear skies. However, as Jackie, Stephen and Trent went out on their run, the temperature felt like it had to be at least thirty degrees below zero. Stephen and Trent ran short and Jackie wished them luck as they retreated to the castle. She only made it one more lap, though, before she too had to go inside.

As she stepped into the Entrance Hall, Jackie felt her body go into shock – freezing cold to toasty warm in a span of two steps was not a good way to go about warming your body. She tried to walk, but her feet wouldn't move. Every nerve in her body felt like it was on fire. She debated yelling and seeing who came to her aid, but before she could get enough air into her frozen lungs she was swept off her feet and someone carried her up the marble staircase.

'I don't know why you people went out running today,' Nathaniel muttered. 'It's gotta be freezing out there.'

'No p-pain, no g-gain,' Jackie stammered through chattering teeth, smiling.

Nathaniel looked down, still exasperated, and then smiled as well. 'That's just like you, Jack. Someday you're going to get really hurt, and I'm going to laugh and say "I told you so."'

Jackie's chattering teeth were slowing, so she was able to attempt speech again. 'And I'll j-just laugh b-back at you b-before hurting you b-because you're j-just standing th-there and n-not helping m-me.'

Nathaniel shook his head and laughed, managing to manoeuvre the door to the common room open while holding Jackie and ignoring her demands that he put her down – she didn't want to be carried through the common room like some sort of weak fool. He ignored her complaints and Jackie wasn't strong enough to have her punches do any damage, so she hid her face in his shoulder, hoping that no one would recognise her.

Unfortunately, Ari did, but she at least waited to say something until they were going up the stairs to the girls' dorms, and what she did wind up saying is, 'How are you getting up here?' The founders of Hogwarts had set it up so that if a guy tried to enter the girls' dorms, he inadvertently wound up outside the common room door with no idea of how he got there. Somehow, Nathaniel seemed to have found a way around that.

'I have my ways,' he answered shrewdly, smirking.

Jackie rolled her eyes, just glad to not have to take the trip back outside the common room. When they got to her dorm, Ari led him to Jackie's bed and he put her down, pulling every blanket Jackie had on her bed up to her chin.

'I'll be f-fine,' she protested as he and Ari started to rub her legs.

'Just shut up and let us help you, will you?' Ari shook her head, laughing at Jackie.

Once Jackie had feeling back in her toes, and they weren't on fire, she sat up and thanked Nathaniel, who went back down the stairs to get them all some breakfast.

'You are not going to the match today,' Ari told Jackie, casting a warming spell on the room.

'I'd l-like to see you try and s-stop me,' Jackie threatened, trying to get up. 'I'll j-just wear more things and keep my w-wand on me to keep me warm.'

Ari rolled her eyes. 'Is one match really that important?'

'Of course it is,' Nathaniel joined Jackie's side as he reentered the room carrying a plate of bacon. 'It's Gryffindor v. Slytherin! This is the match of the year.'

Ari sighed in defeat. 'Just be careful, please?'

'Don't worry.' Jackie smiled. 'You know m-me.'

'Yeah, I do, which is why I'm asking you to be careful,' Ari retorted, smiling back.

Nathaniel and Jackie walked down the lawn to the Quidditch pitch – such was the popularity of the game that every student was bundled up and walking the same way. Well, almost every student – Ari had refused to step foot outside.

Nathaniel and Jackie had their wands with them, so they were constantly casting warming spells so their fingers, toes, and faces didn't freeze off.

'Good afternoon, everyone!' came Lee Jordan's muffled voice – he must have been speaking through a balaclava. 'Welcome to the first Quidditch match of the new term, and the coldest one on record. But, who are we to let the weather defer us from this wonderful sport? Here comes Gryffindor, Captain and Seeker Turpin, Beaters Weasley and Weasley, Chasers Spinnet, Bell and Johnson, and Keeper Wood! And now for the Slytherin team of Captain and Chaser Black, Chasers Flint and Zabini, Beaters Montague and Warrington, Keeper Smith and Seeker White! Let's make it quick now, gents and ladies, we all want to get back inside.'

Derrick and Trent flew down to face each other in the middle of the pitch, and Jackie could see the pure loathing that radiated from each eye. Madam Hooch's whistle rang out and everyone took off into the air.

The game was a brutal one. The Slytherin Beaters were hitting Bludgers everywhere, almost seeming not to care if they hit their own players. There were many fouls, but both Keepers were excellent and the score remained low. Lee's commentary was blatantly pro-Gryffindor, and even Professor McGonagall seemed to agree with him rather than trying (and usually failing) to return his commentary to the actual match. Jackie agreed as well, most of the time. The only two she really cared about were Derrick and Trent, and Trent seemed to be winning in that category – he was scoring more goals than Snitches Derrick was catching. As the game wore on and the foul count grew higher, Jackie was getting a little worried. Derrick seemed to be out to get Trent – when he wasn't looking for the Snitch he was trying to make Trent fall off his broom.

'And after a score of 320-360 to Gryffindor, Slytherin's White catches the Snitch and this game ends with a score of 360-470 to Slytherin. Good job, everyone, and now let's go get warm!'

Jackie didn't dare search for Trent in the madness that was the pitch after a match, so she went to the Room of Requirement and waited. Within a half-hour, he was there, looking radiant.

'I beat him.' He beamed, picking Jackie up in a hug and twirling her around. 'I beat Derrick Turpin.'

'Good riddance,' Jackie chimed in, smiling up at him.

They could only spent a few minutes together because Alamexia would be looking for Trent after the match, so they bade good-bye and went their separate ways until the next afternoon.

The following evening, Trent was waiting for Jackie in the Room of Requirement with a dozen white roses.

'Since we weren't able to celebrate Valentine's Day last night, I thought we might tonight.'

'Oh,' Jackie grimaced. 'I didn't get you anything. I wasn't sure if I needed to or not…'

'It's all fine,' he cut her off, smiling. 'I got you these because I thought you'd like them.'

'White roses are my favourite.'

'Score one for Trent,' he said under his breath. Jackie laughed at him.

However, Jackie forgot about Ari when she carried the bouquet back up Ravenclaw Tower.

'Where'd you get those roses?' she asked as soon as Jackie entered the dorm.

'Oh, er, I'm not sure. They came during dinner, it said that they were from a "secret admirer" or something,' Jackie invented wildly. Thankfully, Ari was appeased.

'Ooh, I wonder who that was…' she thought out loud. Jackie knew that she wouldn't be needing a response, so she got ready for bed to the tune of Ari's ramblings. She had finished _Ender's Game_ and so took out the book Trent had given her, _Pride and Prejudice_. She read the back cover and was surprised at how… girly… it sounded for him to have given it to her. A sudden thought inspired her to open the front cover and move the taped note. There was a name underneath it:

 _Annemarie Black_

She would ask him about it some other time, for now she just wanted to start reading.

On February twenty-eighth, Jackie woke up to Ari jumping on her bed.

'Wake up, it's your birthday!'

'Wha–' Jackie was still groggy, Ari had interrupted a great dream involving Trent.

'Today is your birthday, you lazy bum. Get up! You're official now!' Jackie slowly remembered that today was, in fact, her birthday which meant that she was seventeen.

'Oh yeah!' As Jackie sat up Ari threw a present at her.

'That one's from me.'

Jackie opened her presents, people had gotten her anything she might have wished for. Her mom got her a really nice watch – one that people don't wear casually. From Trent, though, there was only a note.

 _Your present will come in a few weeks.  
Love you,_  
 _Trent_

Jackie didn't have time to linger over that, though, because Ari had plans for her day - most of which involved hanging with friends.

It was hard for Jackie, the secrecy with which she went about her daily life now. It had been a month since the Valentine's Day match, and sometime she just wanted to walk up to Trent when she saw him in the Great Hall and have him give her a huge hug and kiss. But, he wanted it to remain a secret, so she held herself back for him. The most contact they had in a week was through either Winston or Anastasia, or when they sat next to each other in Arithmancy and wrote notes. They couldn't speak though, because Professor Vector and three Hufflepuffs were in the room.

He must have seen that it was killing her, though. The next Sunday, he asked about how she was feeling.

'I… I just hate lying to my friends,' she told him, sighing. 'I mean, they've been my best friends since our first year – one's even my sister now – and I just don't like not being able to talk to them. I think they're beginning to notice something's up though, and I don't know what I'm going to tell them now.'

'Don't worry about it,' Trent soothed her. 'We'll tell people soon.'

'However,' Jackie thought aloud, 'the one who is my sister is in fact the Gossip Queen of Hogwarts, so I know that it wouldn't be good for me to tell her of all people.'

Trent smiled. 'Yeah, that would be an interesting experiment – how fast will this hot gossip spread?'

Jackie smiled as well. 'Trust me; it'd be all over the school by lunch.'

'Speaking of food…' Trent looked at Jackie's watch. 'Oh, we gotta go. It's almost time for dinner.'

Jackie sighed. 'Alright. See you next week.'

'I'll be counting the minutes.'

Jackie was wrong, though – it wasn't going to be a week until she next saw him.

That night, after dinner, she heard Alamexia Nott talking loudly to Trent and sped up her walk – she didn't want to have to listen. However, when she heard the entire hall go silent, she had to turn around.

Trent had left Alamexia and was walking towards her, a huge smirk on his face.

'Hey, mind if I walk you back to Ravenclaw Tower tonight?'

'Not at all,' Jackie replied, walking with him as he took her hand.

They were the first ones back to the Tower, and Trent wanted to say good night quickly. 'I want to get back to my room before anyone else. But, what do you think? An effective way of going public?'

'Did you do it all just for me?' Jackie asked in a small voice.

'No,' he took her other hand as well, 'no I didn't. I want this too. I'm tired of putting up with Alamexia when I'd rather be with you. Happy birthday, by the way.'

Jackie laughed, but she was still sceptical. She accepted Trent's word, though, and let him go, retreating to her dorm when she reached the top of the Tower.

However, her dorm wasn't the safe haven it once was.

'What the bloody hell was that?!' Ari exploded as soon as she entered the room. 'You are dating Trent Black?! _Trent Black?!_ And you didn't tell me?!'

'Well,' Jackie tried to defend herself, 'we didn't tell anyone. At all.'

'How long have you two been dating?' Ari asked.

'Since the Yule Ball.'

'That was him? Your new date?' Ari asked, incredulous.

Jackie nodded. 'Ari, this isn't just some infatuation – we really do like each other.'

'But, Jackie, he's a Slytherin.' Ari sounded disgusted, like the mere thought of Slytherins made her want to throw up.

'I know Ari, but maybe not all Slytherins are evil.' Ari tried to look understanding. Jackie could see that she didn't believe it, though.

'Never mind, I'll talk to you later,' Jackie sighed as she turned away. As she entered the common room, Jackie felt every eye watching her. Holding her head high, she strode through the room and out the door, unsure of where she was going.

The half-blood Ravenclaw with a blood-traitor adopted sister is dating the pureblood Slytherin, of all pureblood Slytherins a _Black_ , who had been betrothed to another pureblood Slytherin practically since birth. It was scandalous, and Jackie knew that people weren't going to take it lightly. The balance and order of how Hogwarts operated had been broken.


	12. Twelve: Confrontations

Everywhere Jackie went now, people whispered. For the most part, she was able to ignore them; she still had heard worse. The worst was when the ones whispering were Slytherins, or even worse than that: Alamexia Nott.

'You little whore, he's mine, and I'm not going to let you take him away from me.'

Jackie tried to sigh and deal with it, but it got harder as time went on and Trent didn't leave her. Suddenly it felt like Stephen and Trent were her only friends, they were the only ones she felt like she could really talk to. Arithmancy became a safe haven for her, where she could talk candidly with Stephen and Trent – none of them cared about the Hufflepuffs in the room. Potions was almost as good, but Jackie had to deal with Nathaniel's silent treatment.

The worst of everything that had happened was Ari.

Any time Jackie tried to talk to her now, Ari would say something like, 'Why don't you go talk to your Slytherin friends, they obviously mean more to you.'

Jackie started avoiding having to see Ari. On March thirteenth, Ari's birthday, Jackie just left her present – a photo album – on Ari's bed.

 _I made this for you before you didn't want to talk to me anymore. I hope you will still like it. Happy seventeenth birthday.  
Jackie_

But for all she was going through, she couldn't imagine what Trent was going through – he couldn't avoid the worst comments because they came from his own house.

Jackie knew what she had to do, even though it was going to break her heart to do it. She had to break up with Trent. The past three months had been amazing because she was with him, but she knew that it would be for his own good to call it off.

That Sunday, she met him in the Room of Requirement and stopped him before he got dinner set up.

'I want to tell you something,' she started, turning to face the wall rather than Trent. 'If you want to break up with me and get back with Alamexia, I understand,' she said through the tears that threatened to overtake her.

'Have these past three months meant nothing to you?'

That wasn't the response Jackie expected. 'Well, no, but–'

'But nothing,' he cut her off. 'Don't you see? We're meant to be.' He took her hand, even though she still wouldn't turn. 'We're soul mates.'

'Sorry you got stuck with me then,' Jackie responded bitterly. This wasn't going the way she had expected.

'What the hell do you think being soul mates is?' Trent grabbed her shoulders and spun her around and held her chin so she had to look into his eyes. The look of genuine and tender affection in his eyes shattered her resolve. 'It's being willing to work through the trials of a normal relationship because you know that you have something deeper – something worth fighting for.'

Jackie felt her heart melt. She didn't get the chance to respond, though, because Trent pulled her chin up slightly higher and inclined his head to press his lips to hers. The kiss was tender and sweet; nothing like the one Derrick had tried at the Yule Ball. When it stopped, he just held her for a moment.

'Don't worry, everything will be okay. I promise.'

'You can't promise that,' Jackie told him, muffled by his shoulder.

'Oh, but I can,' he said, and Jackie could hear the smile in his voice.

'How?' she challenged, looking up into his face.

'Just you wait and see,' he assured her, kissing the tip of her nose.

Her spirits bolstered by the scene with Trent, Jackie talked to Nathaniel the next day in Potions.

'Look, I'm sorry if you don't like it, but–'

'Why didn't you tell me?' Nathaniel cut her off. He maintained his composure, but Jackie had been his best friend long enough to be able to tell when he was hurt.

'You heard what happened when I told Ari. And look at the rest of the school – you're my best friend I didn't want to lose that.'

'What do you think best friends are for? When you feel like the world's against you, they're the ones who stand beside you and say "The world's against _us_."'

Jackie smiled. 'Thanks.'

Nathaniel looked at her closely, seeing through her smile. 'What's up with Ari?'

Jackie sighed. 'I'm not sure.'

'Maybe you should tell her how you feel.'

That was one reason Jackie appreciated having Nathaniel as her friend – when she didn't know what to do he had an uncanny ability to point out the obvious to her.

'I'm sure you'll wake up from the coma she puts you in by the end of the year.'

And he pointed it out with such flair.

Despite all her confidence (or lack thereof), Jackie couldn't confront Ari that day. That night, after Ari fell asleep, she composed a letter to her mum.

 _Hey, Mum.  
I don't know what you may be hearing form Ari, but I'm dating Trent Black now. Please don't jump to conclusions – he's really a nice guy. I was wondering, could he maybe come over for Easter?  
Love you._  
 _Jackie_

The next day's Potions class found Nathaniel volunteering to get the supplies when he saw Trent going into the supplies closet. Stephen caught Jackie's eye across the room and she shrugged – she didn't know what was going on. She was relieved when they both came out of the closet smiling.

'We're going to have two more at our table today,' he told her when he sat back down. Sure enough, when she looked at the Slytherin table they were gathering their things together.

'Oh, so that's what you did in there.'

'What, did you think I was going to kill him or something?' he asked her. When Jackie just shrugged, Nathaniel laughed. 'Don't worry; I'm saving that for if he ever hurts you.'

'Oh, I see.' Jackie joined in with his laughter as the two Slytherins sat down at their table.

'Hey, I'm Stephen,' Stephen immediately introduced himself to Nathaniel.

'Nathaniel,' he responded as they shook hands.

The four of them worked together through the broken double period and Jackie was relieved when it seemed that Nathaniel liked both of her Slytherin friends.

The success from him gave Jackie the confidence she needed to talk to Ari. During her free period, Jackie waited for her in their dorm. After the last class finished, Ari came up and stopped in the doorway when she saw Jackie stand up.

'What do you want?' Ari asked, not walking further into the room.

'You see, that's exactly it. I thought we were friends, sisters even, but for the past month and a half I've felt like my only friends are Stephen and Trent. Every time I'd try to talk to you, you'd make some stupid comment or ask how I and "my Slytherin friends" are doing. You'd hardly even talk to _me_ anymore because _he's_ a Slytherin, and because I didn't tell you about it. And for some reason you still wonder why I didn't tell you in the beginning.'

'But Jackie, I thought–'

'Maybe I want something different than you thought,' Jackie cut her off, feeling her emotion rising. 'Maybe I want to live my own life, and have the friends I want and see the person I want and enjoy doing the things I want, without having everyone else judge me or make fun of me and what I do. Maybe I want to be myself and not what you think I should be. You don't need to know every detail of my life – it's my life and not yours.'

Ari looked stunned. Jackie left her in the doorway and strode to her bed. She sat down and pulled the curtains shut, unsure whether she wanted to break something or cry.

'Jackie?' Ari called quietly. When Jackie didn't respond, Ari tentatively poked her head through the gap in the curtains. Jackie said nothing, but moved her legs so Ari could sit down, and she did.

'Jackie, I'm so sorry. I don't… I just… I don't know what to say.'

Jackie just shrugged and continued not speaking.

'I don't know why I did that, I don't know why I felt like that, I just felt like you had betrayed me by not telling me first. I know,' she continued before Jackie could interject, 'it's a stupid, shallow reason, but that's how I felt. I know that "I'm sorry" probably isn't enough, but is it at least okay for now?'

Jackie smiled and pulled Ari into a hug. 'It's perfect.'

Now that her best friends knew and were okay with Jackie's choices, she felt happier than she had since the Yule Ball. For Nathaniel's birthday, everyone, including the Slytherins, was hanging out together in the Room of Requirement. Ari invited Lucas, things were still going strong between them, to their house for Easter, and Jackie's mum had said yes to them both. Jackie was wary of having Derrick's right-hand man in the same house as she was for a weekend, but Ari assured her that Lucas was on Jackie's side.

The next Quidditch match was coming up, Hufflepuff v. Slytherin, so Jackie was spending some time with Trent in one of the few times that they had together, between classes and practice. As Jackie and Trent walked to dinner hand-in-hand, they heard loud footsteps approaching quickly from behind. Turning to look, Jackie only saw Derrick for a moment before he had punched Trent and sent him to the ground.

'What was that for?' Jackie yelled at him as she knelt down beside Trent. His nose looked broken, but otherwise he seemed fine.

'He stole you away from me, so I thought I'd show him what happens when a Slytherin messes with a Gryffindor and steals from him.' Jackie saw Trent's eyes flash a steely grey and he tried to get back up on his own quickly. Derrick pulled his fist back to strike again, and Jackie reacted before any of them realised what she was doing. By the time her brain caught up with her arm, she had punched Derrick in the stomach and shoved him backwards before pulling out her wand.

'You are a complete arsehole, Derrick Turpin, and I never want to speak to you again. Go. Away.'

Derrick looked slightly abashed, but not enough to satisfy Jackie. She pocketed her wand and helped Trent get all the way back up.

'Do you want to go to the Hospital Wing or can you fix that by yourself?' she asked as they walked away from where Derrick was still standing.

Trent drew his wand and pointed it at his own nose. ' _Episkey_.' It stopped bleeding and he turned to Jackie. 'How does it look?'

Jackie smiled and kissed it. 'Just perfect.'

'I don't think I've ever heard you swear like that before' he commented in a light-hearted manner as they continued on their way to the Great Hall.

Jackie grimaced. 'I don't like to. That was just a lot of pent-up anger at him.'

Trent laughed. 'Remind me to never let you get angry at me.' He kissed her swiftly before they separated to sit at their house tables.

The next day was the Quidditch match. The Cup standings were that Hufflepuff was completely out of the race, Ravenclaw and Slytherin were tied and Gryffindor was twenty points ahead of them. As Jackie walked down to the Quidditch pitch with Nathaniel and Ari, she enjoyed the fact that there were fewer whispers.

The match began and Jackie found herself seated right next to the Hufflepuff goal posts and across from the Gryffindor Quidditch team. She looked across and saw Lucas arguing with Derrick. Suddenly, Derrick stopped and focused on something in the game. Jackie looked to see what it was – Trent was flying towards the goals. Derrick raised his wand and Jackie reacted without thinking.

' _Expeliarmus_ ,' she muttered, disarming Derrick from across the pitch and allowing Trent to score a goal. Derrick looked around to see who had disarmed him and saw the venomous glare that Jackie was giving him. She hoped for his sake that he understood the message this time.

Trent scored another goal before Madam Hooch's whistle rang out. Everyone looked around and saw that a very surprised Hufflepuff Seeker had caught the Snitch.

'Well, that's the game!' Lee Jordan called out. 'After five minutes and a score of 20-10 to Slytherin, Hufflepuff's Seeker catches the Snitch for a final score of 20-160 to Hufflepuff! Excellent job, both teams, and we'll see you all next month for the final! Ravenclaw v. Gryffindor!'

Jackie waited for Trent outside the Slytherin locker room, and thankfully he was the first one out.

'How 'bout those two goals, huh?' he asked, joking. 'I think that may have been the shortest match in the history of the school.'

Jackie laughed with him. 'Too bad you couldn't come out on top.'


	13. Thirteen: Family Time

The weather got steadily better as the week went on, so the day before they left for Easter holiday found Trent and Jackie deciding to take a walk around the school grounds and enjoy the sunset. They walked along the tree line of the Forbidden Forest until movement in the trees made them stop.

'What was that?' Jackie whispered as she grabbed Trent's arm.

'I'm not sure,' he whispered back, drawing his wand. They inched forward until a thestral stepped out of the trees.

'Oh,' Jackie sighed in relief, 'it's just a thestral.' She stepped forward to pet it. 'I wonder what it's doing so far out here.' Trent hadn't moved forward with her, so she turned back to see where he went. He was looking some five feet to the right of where the thestral was.

'What did you say was there?'

'It's a thestral,' Jackie replied, placing her hand on its back so he could see where it was.

'Oh. You can see them?' he asked, stowing his wand and approaching where Jackie stood. He hung back a bit, so Jackie pulled him next to her and put his hand on the thestral's head.

'They're gentle, don't worry,' she reassured as he looked uncomfortable. 'But yeah, I can see them.'

'How?' he asked softly, stroking the thestral's head and holding her hand.

'You know that my mum adopted Ari, right?' He nodded, so she continued. 'Well, she still had parents in our first year. We became best friends, so I went to her house over the Easter holiday. We were all in the kitchen eating dinner when they came. A bunch of Death Eaters came in and killed her dad. Her mum barely had time to turn our forks into portkeys before she was killed as well. The Death Eaters turned on us but we were sent to my house. Ari was in hysterics, I was pretty close. My mum was shocked to see us, but she accepted it and took care of us.'

'I remember hearing about that,' Trent said softly. 'How did you know they were Death Eaters?'

Jackie glanced sideways at him before focusing on the thestral. 'One of them was your dad.'

Jackie heard his sharp intake of breath but didn't see his face as she was focusing on stroking the thestral, so she was surprised when he grabbed her arm and pulled her into his arms.

'I'm sorry. Is there anything I can do?'

'This is fine,' Jackie told him, hiding her face in his shoulder and hoping that he wouldn't feel the tears threatening to spill down her face. To compose herself, Jackie asked about the name she had found in her book. 'Who's Annemarie Black?' She felt him stiffen and instantly regretted her question. 'It's okay, you don't have to answer, I just saw the name in the book you gave me for Christmas and was curious…'

'No, it's okay,' he stopped her rambling and walked over to sit beneath a tree. Jackie followed and sat next to him. 'Annemarie was my mum. She was beautiful. I'm not entirely sure how she wound up married to my dad – I think it was arranged. She was kind-hearted and didn't mind that I had those Muggle friends I told you about. She loved me more than she loved my dad, and I felt the same way towards her.'

'What happened?' Jackie was afraid to ask, but she wanted to know.

'I'm not entirely sure,' his voice dropped to a whisper. 'I went home over Christmas holiday my first year and she wasn't there. When I asked my dad about it, he wouldn't answer me. It was like she never existed, but I knew that she had. It became something that got between me and my dad, something that we could never quite overcome. Even now, I prefer to spend my school holidays away from home.' He was staring out beyond anything Jackie could see, he was looking back into his past.

'I'm so sorry,' Jackie whispered, reaching up to take his hand. He came back to the present and smiled down at her.

'Well, you're helping me out this weekend. I don't have to go home.'

Jackie smiled. 'Glad to be of service.'

The next day, Jackie and Ari packed their trunks and went to the Entrance Hall to meet their boyfriends.

Lucas greeted Ari first, but he then turned to Jackie. 'Jackie, I want you to know that I'm still friends with Derrick, but I think he's a complete jerk too.'

Jackie smiled. 'Thanks, Lucas.'

The train ride back went smoothly and quickly and Jackie was the first off the train to greet her mum. She ran over and was enveloped in a hug. 'Hi mum,' she grinned. 'This is Trent.'

Trent walked over slowly, looking more nervous than Jackie had seen him before. 'Hi Mrs Andrews.'

'Pleased to meet you, Trent. Call me Elizabeth,' Jackie's mum smiled.

'Elizabeth!' Ari came running over with Lucas in tow. 'This is Lucas.'

'Hi Mrs – er, Elizabeth,' Lucas greeted her, he had obviously heard what Jackie's mum said.

'Pleasure to meet you, Lucas.' Jackie's mum smiled. 'Shall we go?'

'Josh isn't coming?' Ari asked as Jackie's mum led the way off of Platform Nine and Three Quarters.

'He said he wanted to stay at school this year.'

Ari and Jackie exchanged a look and began laughing.

'What?' Trent and Lucas looked confused.

'I'm pretty sure that he only wanted to stay because he didn't want to bring Sasha home to us,' Jackie laughed.

'Yeah, he's probably shacking up with her right now,' Ari smiled.

Jackie's mum ignored them both and told Trent and Lucas to do the same. 'They all just like to joke with each other. I used to try and get them to stop, but now I just ignore them.'

Lucas laughed; Trent looked like he wanted to but didn't know if he should.

'You can laugh,' Jackie told him. 'It's okay, we don't bite. Hard.'

Ari laughed and Trent started to as well.

'See, it's not so bad,' Jackie whispered, squeezing his hand.

When they got back to the Andrews home, both Trent and Lucas held back. Jackie and Ari dropped off their things and saw Jackie's mum on the landing.

'Your boys are going to be in Josh's room,' she told them, carrying sheets in to set up the camp bed.

The boys were both standing in the kitchen, talking to try and not look as awkward as they felt.

'Okay, follow us.' Jackie and Ari led them to Josh's room.

They all ate dinner together and sat together on the back porch and chatted until it got too dark.

That night, Jackie was attempting to sleep when she heard Ari get up and walk to the door. The door, however, was locked.

'Bloody hell,' she whispered.

Jackie laughed. 'Did you really expect mum to just let us go back and forth between the two rooms at night? I bet the guys have a locked door as well.'

Ari continued to mutter to herself as she went back to her bed. Jackie just continued laughing at her as she fell asleep.

The next morning, Jackie, like usual, woke up before Ari. She got ready for her run and found the door still locked, so she went out the window onto the roof and down a ladder to go for her run.

'Wait up,' someone called softly from behind her. Turning, she saw Trent scrambling down the ladder she had just descended. 'Going for a run?'

'Yeah, let's go.'

The Andrews family lived on the outskirts of a little town, Ashbourne, just a few miles west of Derby. Jackie led him along the paths of runs that she usually used that led through the woods. When they got back to the house, Jackie's mum was waiting for them in the kitchen.

'You know, Jaquelyn, I've been meaning to take down that ladder,' she said from the stove. Trent looked slightly scared, but Jackie just smiled reassuringly and went up to hug her mum from behind.

'But sneaking out every now and then builds character, right?'

Jackie's mum turned around smiling. 'That's what you keep telling me.' She laughed along with Jackie, setting two bowls of chocolate chip porridge on the table.

'Sit down, you two. I don't know when Lucas will get up, but I do know that we have another good half hour until Ari wakes up.' Jackie and Trent sat down at the table and Jackie immediately started eating.

'Don't be shy,' Jackie's mum told Trent as she sat down with them, drinking her morning coffee. 'Eat up, I can always make more.' Trent smiled and began eating. 'So, Trent. How has your school year been?'

Trent had just taken a large bite of porridge and almost gagged on it as he tried to swallow quickly to respond. Jackie laughed at him and he smiled sheepishly as he answered.

'It has been going pretty well, thanks.'

'Now, I hear that you're the captain of the Slytherin house team, is that correct?'

'Yes, ma'am. In the cup standings, we are currently ahead of Gryffindor by one hundred points, but they play Ravenclaw in the final match of the season while I am done.' Jackie's mum looked significantly at Jackie, but Trent didn't notice. 'It was a good season, though, and I'm looking forward to next year.'

They chatted at the kitchen table for a little longer before Lucas emerged from the stairs.

'Good morning,' Jackie's mum greeted him, standing up to get him a bowl of porridge.

'Morning, Mrs – Elizabeth,' he greeted her back. 'Smells good.'

'Thank you.' Jackie's mum set down his bowl as Ari stumbled down the stairs.

'Good morning, sunshine,' Jackie greeted Ari, picking up her bowl. 'You done?' she asked Trent, ignoring Ari's half-asleep retort.

'Well…' he started.

'I'll get you some more,' Jackie smiled, taking his bowl to the stove and grabbing another serving for him.

'So, what's on the agenda for today?' Jackie's mum asked them all once she got Ari's breakfast on the table.

'Well, first for me is a shower,' Jackie said. 'I'll be back in a few.' She kissed Trent's forehead and went up the stairs to shower. When she was done, Trent took her place and Jackie went downstairs to find Ari and Lucas at the table, drawing up extravagant plans for their time at home. Jackie looked over Ari's shoulder and laughed at them.

'You know that you only have two weeks – then we have to go back to school.'

'Oh yeah…'Ari crossed off some things and rewrote them. 'If we do this here, then we'd have time to do this here…'

Jackie just rolled her eyes and went to sit in the living room with her mum. 'Have you seen their plans?'

Jackie's mum laughed. 'Yes. I asked when they planned to sleep, I didn't get an answer. How are you, hon?' she asked, looking into Jackie's face.

'I'm alright,' Jackie responded, moving to sit next to her mum.

'What happened?' she asked, putting her arm around Jackie's shoulders as Jackie leaned into her mum's shoulder. Jackie knew exactly what her mum was referring to.

'Well, for one thing, he chose to go "study" over spend time with me. And then I found out that "studying" really meant shagging Acantha Malfoy. The Yule Ball was a masquerade so I saw him greet her with a kiss before he had even noticed that I was in the room, and then he tried to cover it up, saying that he didn't realise that it wasn't me. I almost got to hit him then, but Trent saved me. I didn't know that it was him, but I found out at the end.'

'So how has your time with Mr Black been?'

Jackie could feel her face light up. 'Oh, it's been wonderful. At first we had to keep it a secret – he was pretty much betrothed to this other girl, Alamexia Nott, but now that others know all I have to put up with is the whispers, and I've heard worse.'

'Okay, I want to hear it all. What did he do on the first date?'

Jackie thought to herself a moment. 'Do you count the Yule Ball as the first date? Or the next day?'

'Oh, the next day. You already told me about the Yule Ball.'

As Jackie launched into the explanation, she heard the kitchen go silent. She had an audience.

'…And then, he told me to pick between these two Muggle movies, "Die Hard" and some other one, I can't remember–'

'It was "The Hunt for Red October",' Trent supplied, entering the room.

'Yeah, that one,' Jackie continued as he sat down on the floor in front of her. 'So we watched "Die Hard" and then he walked me up to the Tower. The end.'

Trent was rubbing Jackie's legs, and Jackie's mum was smiling at the camaraderie between them.

'So, what do you want to do today?' Jackie asked Trent.

'I don't know, did you have any plans?'

Jackie looked back in the kitchen where Ari and Lucas were still planning. 'No. You just want to go on a walk?'

'Sounds good,' he agreed, hoisting himself up off the floor and holding out a hand for Jackie.

'We'll be back.' Jackie smiled and waved as they walked out the back door.

'So, what do you want to see?' Jackie asked as they made it to the top of the hill behind the house. 'Over here are the woods we ran through this morning, and over there is Ashbourne.' Jackie spread her arms wide. 'Here is the wonderful world of Jaquelyn Andrews.'

Trent looked around. 'I think it's pretty nice.'

Jackie and Trent spent their weeks walking together and talking with Jackie's mum, while Ari and Lucas went about trying to fulfill their plans.

On the last day of their holiday, Ari and Lucas both got up early to finish the last few things on their list, while Jackie woke up to Trent walking through her door with a tray.

'Good morning, sunshine,' he greeted her with a smile.

'Good morning, but don't call me sunshine,' Jackie greeted him back, rubbing her eyes and sitting up.

'Well then, what should I call you?' he asked, setting down the tray on her lap and sitting next to her.

'Well, I guess sweetheart or honey would both be just fine.'

'Then good morning, honey.' He smiled leaning over to kiss her.

Jackie smiled and turned to her tray. There were two plates – one had a few pieces of toast and fruit while the other was piled high with bacon. 'Thanks,' she grinned, taking a piece of bacon and chowing down.

They got ready to leave and were relaxing in the living room when Ari and Lucas returned.

'You've got thirty minutes,' Jackie's mum told them. Ari shrieked and ran up to her room. Lucas shrugged and followed her up the stairs.

Trent laughed at them both and Jackie went to the kitchen to help her mum.

'Thanks for the bacon this morning,' she smiled as she began drying dishes.

'Oh, I didn't make your breakfast today.' Jackie's mum smiled shrewdly. Jackie cocked her head questioningly, but her mum wouldn't say anything more.

Thirty three minutes later, Ari was ready (via much help from everyone else) and they were on their way back to King's Cross.

'Have a good last term.' Jackie's mum hugged them all good bye. 'I hope to see you all this summer.'

Trent and Lucas thanked her for the weeks and it was time for the train to leave. The foursome spent the ride together playing chess (Lucas dominated).

The next day, Jackie noticed that Trent wasn't at breakfast. Stephen came over to her and told her in an undertone, 'He just received a Howler, from his dad.'

'Oh, thanks.' Jackie felt her stomach drop. She finished her breakfast quickly and went to the Room of Requirement, where she knew that he would be.

Sure enough, he was.

Mr Black's voice was still ringing in the air when she entered. Trent stood in the middle of the room, head bent, clutching the burning remains of a scarlet envelope.

'Trent?' she asked, timidly entering the room.

He turned and smiled a small, fake smile when he saw her. 'Hey, hon.'

'Are you okay?' she asked as she approached him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders as he hugged her close.

'Oh, my dad's just told me that he's planning on disowning me, he wants me to get back together with Alamexia, all that.'

'I'm sorry.'

'You know, earlier this year, I think I would have pretended to follow his advice. However, now that I've met your mum, I think I'd be okay with it. I wouldn't mind having to spend more time with your family.'

'You won't be saying that once you've spent more than just a few weeks with Ari,' Jackie laughed, glad that he was feeling better.


	14. Fourteen: The Quidditch Final

As the final match of the Quidditch season drew closer, tensions ran high. Gryffindors traveled in packs to try and take out any member of the Ravenclaw team that was alone. Jackie ordered her team to always travel with at least one other person.

'I don't want to have to find a backup this close to the match,' she told them.

Jackie scheduled practices every evening the week leading up to the final, and let her team out early on that Friday.

'Okay everyone, I won't lie, I really want to win tomorrow. Just fly like you have been for me this week and we'll do amazing.'

'We'll beat Derrick for you,' Diana chirped up. The rest of the team joined in and Jackie smiled.

'Thanks guys. Now go relax, I'll see you guys at breakfast tomorrow.'

'Ravenclaws for the cup!' Nathaniel cheered as he saluted. Everyone cheered with him and walked back up to the castle.

They all walked up Ravenclaw Tower together and dispersed when they entered the common room to relax their own ways.

Jackie went up to her dorm and lay down on her bed. Ari was the only other one in the room.

'You'll do great tomorrow,' she told Jackie.

'Just don't talk to me about that,' Jackie moaned into her pillow.

'Okay then, what do you want to talk about?'

'I really don't want to right now. I'll let you know if I do.' Jackie felt more like there was something rather large trying to get out of her stomach than like talking.

Jackie had finally managed to calm down and she and Ari had changed into their pyjamas and were lounging in the room when Nathaniel came bursting through the door, causing Ari to go tumbling off her bed.

'Ok, here's the deal,' he began, ignoring the fact that Ari was swearing on the floor and Jackie was unable to control her laughter. 'We've got a big Quidditch match tomorrow, so I want you,' he pointed at Jackie, 'to get to sleep now, and you,' he glared at Ari, 'need to let her sleep. See you both tomorrow.' And with that he left, leaving Ari on the floor and Jackie rolling on her bed in laughter.

'How the bloody hell does he get up here?' Ari grumbled, picking herself up.

'More importantly, why is he telling me to go to sleep? I'm the captain, and it's only eight-thirty.'

The door opened again and Rebecca walked in swearing under her breath. Jackie was fairly certain that she heard Nathaniel's name. 'He ordering you to sleep too?' she asked. The look on Rebecca's face confirmed it. 'I'll take care of him.'

She marched down the stairs to find Diana, James and Edward sitting together and Nathaniel advancing toward them. She caught him with a _Petrificus Totalus_ before he made it to their circle and levitated him downstairs to his dorm.

'Trust me, buddy, it's for your own good. I'm pretty sure Rebecca wants to kill you right now,' she explained, pulling the blankets up over him and kissing his forehead. 'Get some sleep, sweet dreams.'

The next morning, Jackie didn't feel any better. The large something that was trying to get out the previous night was still at it. She got ready for the match mechanically, trying to ignore her stomach.

She met her team in the Great Hall and encouraged them all to eat something while she didn't touch anything herself.

'Okay, it's time to go,' she told them and most jumped up, eager to get doing something again instead of just sitting there.

They walked to the pitch together, no one could talk. In the locker room, they all got changed in silence until the sounds of the rest of the school walking down the lawn entered the locker room. Then the silence broke and the rest of the team started talking nonchalantly, or trying to sound like it.

Edward, however, looked sick to his stomach. Jackie sat next to him.

'I can't do this, Captain,' he told her desperately. 'I'm only a second year. The rest of those wins were luck.'

'No they weren't,' Jackie interrupted him. 'You're a brilliant player.

'You overestimate me; you've been overestimating me all year.'

'You've been underestimating yourself,' Jackie told him.

He looked like he didn't believe her, but he didn't have the chance to say anything because it was time to go.

As Lee Jordan announced them and they flew out of the tunnel, Jackie took a second to look around. It was a beautiful day for a Quidditch match, and the entire school was in the stands.

Jackie flew down to the center of the pitch to face Derrick. She kept her face blank, but he looked like he wanted to say something. She just shook his hand and flew away before he could say anything.

'Okay, team, we just need to win by one hundred and thirty points and we've got the cup. Let's do this.' She smiled before the whistle blew.

They all took off into the air and the biggest match of Jackie's career began.

Immediately, the Chasers were flying and passing the Quaffle, the Beaters were hitting the Bludgers and the Seekers were on their search. There were people everywhere, and Jackie was in her element. The chaos was strangely calming to her; she thrived in hitting Bludgers everywhere. Admittedly, she did aim at Derrick a lot, but she managed to concentrate and divide her time.

An hour later, the score was 120-120. Her team looked like they were looking a little disheartened and tired, so Jackie called a time-out and had her team gather below their goal posts.

'Guys, I want you all to take a deep breath right now.' Once they all did, she continued. 'We can beat these guys. Just calm down and play like we did against Hufflepuff, we did amazing against them.' They all took off again, but Jackie held Edward back. 'I'm telling you the truth – you're the best Seeker I've seen in a long time, definitely better than Derrick. You can definitely find the Snitch first.'

He smiled and nodded before taking off again. The game resumed and Jackie immediately saw that Derrick and Edward were racing for the Snitch. She sped over to the Bludger that was closest to them and hit it at Derrick. She barely had time to hear the satisfying crack of his arm as the Bludger collided with it before Edward had snatched the Snitch. The Ravenclaw section exploded, the Hufflepuff section was cheering loudly. Even the Slytherin section seemed happy that Gryffindor had lost.

Jackie flew to Edward first and gave him a huge hug. 'I told you that you could do it,' she congratulated him.

He looked positively radiant. 'I did it!'

Jackie smiled as the rest of the team joined in on their hug. Diana and Rebecca were chanting, 'We've won the cup! We've won the cup!' Nathaniel, James and David were doing a sort of celebratory war-dance on their brooms. Somehow they made it to the ground safely; everyone was just one huge mass of people.

When they got down, Nathaniel and David hoisted Edward up on their shoulders and Diana and Rebecca joined James in the war-dance. Professor Dumbledore was smiling as he handed Jackie the silver Quidditch cup and she beamed as she passed it up to Edward, who held it up high.

Three hours later, the party in the common room was still going on. The cup was on display in the middle of the room, and Professor Flitwick had stopped by earlier to offer his congratulations to the team. The entire house was celebrating, and Jackie saw that there were a few Hufflepuffs in the crowd as well, including James's girlfriend, Lily. She smiled to herself and finished off her Firewhiskey before getting ready to go up to her dorm. Before she got to the stairs, she saw Winston at the window, a note attached to his leg. She let him in and took the note.

 _Come outside_

Jackie went to the window and looked out, but didn't see anyone. She walked over to the common room door and exited. Once the door had closed entirely, she felt a pair of arms wrap themselves around her waist.

'Congratulations, sweetheart,' Trent whispered into her ear.

'Thanks.' She smiled as she turned around in his arms to face him.

'You mind if I join your party?' a voice drawled from behind Jackie. She sighed and turned around to face a drunken Derrick.

'What do you want now?' She tried to put as much contempt into her voice as she could muster.

'I just want to let you know what you're missing with me.' He staggered forward. 'A scout came to me today and offered me a position on the Wimbourne Wasps. You could have been a Quidditch player's wife.'

'Derrick, I don't want to have anything to do with you,' she told him, turning around to go back inside the common room, but he grabbed her shoulder.

'Jackie, think about what you're doing,' he said, gesturing to himself.

Before Jackie had time to hit him, Trent's fist came from the side and broke Derrick's nose.

'You might want to get that checked out,' Jackie told him coldly, grabbing Trent's hand and walking back into the common room. She saw him look curious as he entered, so she led him to her favourite armchair and sat in his lap.

'Welcome to the Ravenclaw common room.'

'This is nice.' He nodded appreciatively.

'It's not normally this loud.' She looked around at all the people with Firewhiskey bottles in their hands.

'I notice that you weren't a complete looker-on,' he observed, obviously able to smell the Firewhiskey on her breath.

'Well, I only had one bottle over the span of three hours, while many of them have had an entire case all to themselves.'

Trent smiled. 'So you've had some before? Enough so that one bottle doesn't get you drunk?'

Jackie flushed slightly and smiled. 'Who's to say that I'm not drunk right now?' Trent just raised an eyebrow and smirked, so Jackie laughed. 'Okay, yes I've had some before. But it's always been one bottle only, no matter how long the party goes on.'

'Uh-huh,' Trent agreed, still sceptical.

'Hey, man,' Nathaniel and Hannah joined the group. 'I didn't notice you get in. Want one?' he offered Trent a bottle of Firewhiskey.

'Sure,' Trent agreed, taking the bottle and uncorking it with his teeth. 'To the Ravenclaw Quidditch team,' he toasted them before taking a swig.

'To their amazing captain,' he toasted Jackie in her ear, taking another drink.

As May came to an end, even the weather seemed to be celebrating with the Ravenclaws. Each day was beautiful, but many students were unable to enjoy it all. They had finals to study for.

Every sixth year celebrated being done with the O.W.L.s and tried to ignore that they had N.E.W.T.s to look forward to the next year.

A hush fell over the school and all of its inhabitants as the week of finals began. Jackie went through finals week with relative ease – what student doesn't second-guess themselves after a large test – but she felt that she had done well.

However, during her Defense Against the Dark Arts final on Thursday afternoon, Professor White wasn't there.

'Where'd he go?' she asked Ari, figuring that she'd know.

However, for the first time Jackie could remember, Ari didn't know. 'I don't know,' she looked puzzled. 'I'll have to ask around.'

Sure enough, Ari's network of contacts came through for her. Jessica and Danielle were having their final that morning when someone got a paper cut. Professor White seemed to have spasms and barely managed to get out of the room before the girl healed it. When someone went up to his office to let him know that they had finished their final, he was drinking something red. The student had been able to tell that it was blood.

The news was all over the school by the end of the day – Professor White was a vampire. Many students claimed to have known the entire time, Jackie knew that they were all full of it. The next day, owls began arriving from parents, questioning why Professor Dumbledore had hired a vampire to teach children. No one saw Professor White after that.

Once that week was over, the entire school got to relax for a few days before the results came in. Jackie spent most of her time hanging with her friends – all of them. She was happiest on the day after finals, when Ari went up to Stephen to introduce herself. Jackie could finally have all of her friends together.


	15. Coda: New Beginnings

Much too soon for every student, June second came along and it was time to get on the Hogwarts Express back to London. Jackie went out on her run and made it back in time to pack quickly before Ari got up, knowing that Ari would need as much help as she could get.

On the run, Trent pulled her aside. 'Would it be okay if I maybe spent some time at your house this summer? I don't want to impose, so I was going to go to Stephen's as well.'

'Of course,' Jackie readily agreed.

Jackie helped Ari pack up and together they managed to get everything packed up in a reasonable time. They even made it down to breakfast in time for Jackie to grab some bacon before the food disappeared. The Great Hall was decorated in Ravenclaw colours for they had won the House Cup, largely thanks to their spectacular performance in the Quidditch final.

Professor Dumbledore stood up at the front of the Hall and everyone went silent.

'And thus ends another school year. I want to congratulate all the seventh years who have completed their N.E.W.T.s this year. You shall all be missed. Remember that all those under seventeen are not allowed to do magic at home.' Jackie and Ari smiled at each other. 'I hope that you all will have a most wonderful summer. See you on September first!'

Out of the Hall to the thestral-drawn carriages and then to the scarlet steam engine went the students. Jackie and Ari claimed their usual compartment in the very back of the train, and Trent, Lucas, Stephen, Nathaniel and Hannah all joined them. They spent the train ride together playing Chess and Exploding Snap. Jackie was as happy as she had been all year – with all of her best friends around. Too soon, the train slowed to pull into King's Cross station. They all gathered their things and got ready to get off the train.

'Alright, I expect to see you all at my house on July twenty-first for my birthday party – I will come find you if you aren't there,' Stephen threatened.

'Don't worry, we'll be there.' Ari smiled.

Everyone got off the train and dispersed. Jackie, Ari, Lucas and Trent went to greet Jackie's mum.

'Hey everyone!' She gave them all hugs.

'Hey, mum.' Jackie hugged her back. 'Would it be okay if Trent spent some time with us over the summer?'

'Certainly.' Jackie's mum smiled at Trent, who smiled back. 'Lucas is going to as well, I hope Josh won't mind.'

As she said that, Josh walked up with Sasha next to him.

'Hey, mum, this is Sasha.'

'Pleased to meet you,' Jackie greeted her before her mum had a chance to. 'I'm Jackie, Josh's cooler sister.'

'No way,' Ari butted in. 'I'm Ari, the much better one.'

'And I'm Elizabeth, the mother of all these crazy people.' Jackie's mum smiled at Sasha.

'Would it be okay if she spent some time with us this summer?' Josh asked.

'Sure, it'll be lots of fun with everyone there.'

'Everyone?' Josh clarified, sounding confused.

'Trent and Lucas are coming over as well.'

'How about we go to your place?' Josh asked Sasha.

'What, and miss all the lovely family bonding time?' Jackie laughed and took Trent's hand as they all walked off the platform to go home. It was going to be a great summer, she could feel it.


End file.
